s^ 




A LINE OFFICER 









^ 



\i^^ " 



Ix^^. 













^1 




i 



The Diary of a 
Line Officer 



By 

CAPTAIN AUGUSTUS C. BROWN 

Company H 

Fourth New York Heavy Artillery 




VC) V' 



CB^s 



Oilt 

D 6 '06 



The Diary of a Line 
Officer. 

BY 

Captain Augustus C. Brown, 

Company H, Fourth New York Heavy Artillery. 



The following pages are an elaboration of a daily record 
kept at the time, of my personal experiences during the 
more active part of the campaign of 1864 of the Army of 
the Potomac, and in the perusal of it the reader should 
bear in mind, as explanatory of the lack of continuity in 
the narrative and of indefiniteness or erroneousness of 
statement as to times, places and the movements of troops, 
that a line officer in command of a single company in any 
branch of the service, was seldom informed at the time 
as to the plan of a campaign, or even as to the specific dis- 
positions of the various forces intended to participate and 
co-operate in a single engagement. His duty was simply 
to obey orders, often very general and not infrequently 
quite unintelligible, and as he was expected to move in the 
night time as well as in the day time, and frequently in 
a country with which he was not familiar, it can surprise 
no one that his ideas of time, of distance and of locality 
were often quite nebulous. 



The Fourth New York Heavy Artillery was originally 
composed of eight companies, recruited in different parts 
of the State during the winter of 1 86 1-2, some as cavalry 
and some as artillery, both heavy and light. It entered 
the service of the United States early in 1862, as a regi- 
ment of Heavy Artillery, under the command of Colonel 
Thomas D. Doubleday, being the first regiment, I think, 
expressly authorized to be raised for that arm of the ser- 
vice, and was at once assigned to garrison several of the 
field works known as ''forts" which constituted the ''De- 
fenses of the City of Washington." The duty for which 
the Heavy Artillery as a separate branch of the military 
organization of the army was designed, was the placing 
in position and the manning and working of such batteries 
of heavy ordnance as were to be used in fortifications more 
or less permanent, and in Siege Trains when they accom- 
panied an army in the field, and involved, as incidental to 
the main object, much work of an engineering character. 

In October, 1863, four companies which had been raised 
mainly in the western part of the State during the spring 
of that year, for a regiment of Heavy Artillery specially 
authorized by the State authorities and to be known as 
the Eleventh, were turned over to and consolidated with 
the Fourth, the authorization of the Eleventh being re- 
voked. These companies had been sent from Harrisburg 
after the battle of Gettysburg, in which they did not ac- 
tually participate, though within sound of the guns, to 
the fortifications in New York harbor, where for a short 
time they garrisoned some of the forts and furnished de- 
tails of officers and men to assist in the suppression of the 
draft riots which occurred in New York City in July, 1863. 
While in Pennsylvania they had been armed with Spring- 



field rifles and required to do duty as Infantry notwith- 
standing the terms of their enUstment, and even after their 
arrival in New York much the same character of service 
was imposed upon them most of the time. This utter dis- 
regard of what both officers and men had been led by the 
authorities to believe to be their inalienable rights as men 
and as soldiers, caused a very general feeling that a bare- 
faced fraud had been practiced upon them, by inducing 
them to enlist for one character of military service, and 
then compelling them to perform a different service, and 
this feeling was intensified when their regimental organi- 
zation was broken up; the men ordered to the Fourth, 
and the officers ordered to be mustered out ''dishonorably 
and without pay or allowence." After a strenuous remon- 
strance sent to the War Department by Governor Horatio 
Seymour, this order was eventually modified so as to send 
the officers before an Examining Board, a proceeding 
which it was no doubt thought would accomplish the same 
result that the earlier and more sweeping order was in- 
tended to accomplish, but before the report of the Exam- 
ining Board was made, the men were incontinently hustled 
off under officers from the Fourth to Fort Ethan Allen, 
Va., the headquarters of that regiment, just across the 
Chain Bridge from Washington. However, some of us — 
for I was one of the ''Eleventh Heavies" — passed the ex- 
amination and reported, as ordered, at Fort Ethan Allen 
some days later, to find our men under command of officers 
detailed from the original eight companies, and though 
some of the officers of the former Eleventh were event- 
ually reinstated in their own companies, I never com- 
manded in the Fourth, except for an occasional drill, the 
company I had raised for the Eleventh and the expenses 



of the recruitment of which I had paid out of my own 
pocket, for the Government reimbursed me only some 
$268, out of about $3,500. In December following, the 
Fourth having then three Battalions of four companies 
each, and Captain William Arthur, of Company H, having 
been appointed a Major, I was promoted from the position 
of the junior First Lieutenant of twenty-four, to that of 
Captain of Co. H, one of the eight original companies, which 
was largely recruited in and about Canandaigua, N. Y., 
where my own Company M was recruited ; was then gar- 
risoning Fort Marcy with a battery of three thirty-pound 
Parrotts, two twenty-pound Parrotts, one ten-pound Par- 
rott and a twelve-pound howitzer, and was generally con- 
ceded to be the best company in the regiment. 

I have thought it well to give here thus much of the ear- 
lier history of this regiment, so that the references in the 
Diary to the unjust and disheartening treatment accorded 
to it all through the campaign, in breaking up its organiza- 
tion and so destroying its individuality and esprit de corps, 
and in using it, and its component parts, for every kind of 
service except that originally promised, may be thoroughly 
understood. 

The Diary. 

FORT MARCY, VA., SATURDAY, MARCH 26tH, 1 864. 

I was suddenly awakened at 5 o'clock this morning by 
Capt. McKeel of Company A, who rushed frantically 
into my quarters with the intelligence that the regiment 
had received ''marching orders," and was immediately to 
join the Army of the Potomac. McKeel appeared to be in 
great glee ; declared that he had long been "spoiling for a 



fight"; that now the grand object of his miHtary existence 
was to be attained, and that it would never be recorded of 
him that he had fought three years for his country without 
seeing an enemy or firing a gun. Much more of a similar 
heroic strain was indulged in by the valiant Jim in the exu- 
berance of his spirits which I do not recall, owing probably 
to the fact that I did not myself receive the news as enthu- 
siastically as was, perhaps, becoming in an officer so far 
away from the front. Indeed I may frankly say that just 
at that moment no order could have been more unexpected 
or undesirable to myself, for, forgetful of the proverbial 
mutability of human affairs, and particularly of military 
affairs, I had just completed for the officers of my com- 
pany a residence within the fort, where I had fondly hoped 
to spend the remainder of my military life in comfort and 
security. The house itself was a model of architectural 
beauty considering the purposes for which it was erected. 
The main building, intended for the company commander, 
stood facing the company quarters just across the covered 
way leading up from the sally-porte. On either hand, ad- 
joining and at right angles with this, the ends extending 
four or five feet to the front, stood the buildings designed 
for the Lieutenants, while connecting these ends and 
spanning the front of the Captain's quarters, was a delight- 
ful little veranda, from which the doors to the three build- 
ings opened to the right, left and centre. Thus constructed, 
the cottage was painted a light drab color, with dark cor- 
nices and trimmings, while the white window frames and 
veranda posts and railings, and three tiny red chimneys 
surmounting the black, steep roofs, improved the general 
effect, and rendered the whole structure one of the prettiest 
little edifices for officers' quarters that it has been my good 



fortune to see. The interior, too, was no less neat and ap- 
propriate. Each apartment, separate and distinct from the 
others, was divided into two rooms, the floors of which 
were laid with narrow matched pine highly polished, and 
the walls and ceilings were done in the best style of hard 
finish plaster. In short the officers' quarters of Fort Marcy 
were universally acknowledged to be the most attractive 
of anything of the kind in the ''Defenses of Washington." 
It will, therefore, hardly be wondered at, that the order 
to march was welcomed by the Commander of Company 
H., Fourth N. Y. Heavy Artillery, about as joyfully as 
a mortar shell is received in a comfortable ''Gopher-hole," 
and that he looked upon the movement as an arbitrary ex- 
ercise of a little brief authority on the part of the Govern- 
ment, and an unwarranted invasion of personal and pro- 
prietary rights. Receiving the intelligence, however, with 
a dont-care-a-darn-itive composure, I ventured to express 
my doubt of the veracity of the gallant McKeel, as if the 
news were too good to be true, and in fact I had strong 
grounds for hoping that I might be the victim of an in- 
nocent joke, inasmuch as Jim, being "Officer of the Day," 
and so supposed to be up and awake all night, might reas- 
onably be suspected of being on a reconnaisance for re- 
freshments at that early hour, particularly as he knew the 
fact that a dozen of the "critter" was at that moment con- 
cealed beneath my bed, intended to do duty at a "house 
warming" appointed for the ensuing evening, in accord- 
ance with the ancient and time honored custom in all well 
regulated military organizations. But, alas, the fatal order, 
duly recorded in the Post-Order Book, soon exploded this 
theory and put to flight the last remaining hope, and cast- 
ing one long, lingering look upon a pillow and a pair of 



snowy sheets just received from home, I arose and made 
a hasty but melancholy toilet. McKeel in the meantime 
entertained me with the enchanting strains of "Who would 
not be a Soldier," and other inspiring and patriotic airs, 
until I ''spiked his piece" with one of the bottles referred 
to, and with which I begged him to celebrate the auspi- 
cious occasion, and placing the other eleven bottles in line 
upon the window sill, I made my first "charge upon the 
enemy" by deliberately knocking off their heads and pitch- 
ing their lifeless remains over the parapet, a proceeding, 
by the way, which Jim characterized as **a reckless waste 
of the blessings of Providence." 

Summoning Sergeant Theben, I directed that the com- 
pany pack up and send off all superfluous baggage and ef- 
fects, and be ready to march at daylight the next morning, 
and having packed my own knapsack, I sauntered over to 
Capt. McKeel's quarters where most of the officers of the 
post were already assembled. Here there seemed to be a 
great diversity of opinion as to the true intent and meaning 
of the movement, each officer having his individual theory, 
but all expressing a decided apprehension that it meant 
Infantry instead of Artillery field service. A deputation 
to Headquarters at Fort Ethan Allen gained but little in- 
formation, except that it was rumored there that we were 
to report to the Chief of Artillery of The Army of the 
Potomac; that Col. Tidball, our Colonel, was to take com- 
mand of the Artillery Brigade of the Second Corps, and 
that the regiment was to have a Siege Train. This, though 
very unsatisfactory, was at least plausible, and with hopes 
for the best we spent the day in writing letters, packing up, 
sending off the sick to Washington, issuing rations and 
shelter tents and generally preparing to move. 



SUNDAY, MARCH 2/7 H. 

At 7 o'clock this morning, being relieved by the 3d Penn- 
sylvania Artillery, a German regiment, the company was 
formed for the last time on the parade ground in front of 
the old barracks, and one hundred and eighty-two men 
answered to their names at roll call. Filing slowly out 
of the little fort which we had built and had garrisoned 
for nearly two years, we formed with Co.'s A and I, and 
marched to Fort Ethan Allen, where we found the other 
companies of the regiment just falling into line. After 
the usual delays we took up the line of march about nine 
o'clock for Alexandria, where we found a train of cars 
awaiting us, and arrived at Brandy Station about ten 
o'clock that night. Here we had our first experience with 
shelter tents, which we pitched near the depot, and in an 
incredibly short time, notwithstanding the state of the 
weather, which was decidedly cold and unpleasant, ''sleep 
and oblivion reigned over all." 

Brandy Station, as we saw it, presented but few induce- 
ments for permanent residence. A few tents, sheds and 
dilapidated old buildings standing in the midst of a rolling 
prairie and immediately surrounded by acres of boxes, 
bags, bales, barrels and innumerable other army stores, 
comprised all the natural or architectural beauties of the 
place, but, being then the terminus of the railroad, the 
whole Army of the Potomac drew its supplies from this 
point. Should the track be relaid to Culpepper, however, 
in two days' time no passing traveler would be able to lo- 
cate the ancient site of Brandy Station. 



MONDAY, MARCH 28tH. 

Weather ccx)! but pleasant. On waking this morning I 
found myself decidedly stiff, sore and lame, and to add 
to my discomfort I discovered that the high-top boots I 
had worn the day before, which I procured at Harrisburg, 
Pa., just before the battle of Gettysburg, and of which 
I had hoped better things, abusing the confidence and feet 
reposed in them, had superinduced several large blisters 
and made sad inroads upon the flesh. Deeming it inad- 
visable to attempt another march upon the same footing, 
I determined to call for volunteers to furnish me a pair 
of army shoes, and in less than five minutes after the call 
had been made I was intrenched behind a pile of "Govern- 
ments" large enough to stock a moderate sized Chatham 
St. ''Emporium," while the generous owner of each par- 
ticular pair stood without the intrenchments extolling the 
peculiar excellencies of his individual property. This un- 
precedented liberality, however, was not, I grieve to say, 
due so much to the generous impulses which are said at 
times to actuate the unselfish heart, as it was to the unro- 
mantic fact that each member of the regiment had been 
supplied with an extra pair of shoes, and one day's march 
had convinced him of the expediency of reducing his im- 
pedimenta to the minimum. Selecting a pair belonging to 
Artificer Benedict of my own company, and giving him 
credit therefor upon his clothing account, I consigned the 
offending boots to the tender mercies of the Quartermas- 
ter's Department for transportation, and of course never 
expect to see them again. In the afternoon the regiment 
moved back nearly parallel with the railroad track about 
two miles, where it camped, each battalion by itself, our 
battalion, the Second, having been marched and counter- 



Id 

marched several times by Major Arthur, until the Colonel 
arrived on the field and in expressions more forcible than 
elegant^ indicated to the Major the ground selected for 
each battalion. The rest of the day was spent in arranging 
company streets and erecting tents, and towards night we 
had completed our first regular camp. 

TUESDAY^ MARCH 29TH. 

It began to rain this morning by daylight and continued 
incessantly all day, converting the camp into a sea of mud 
and nearly drowning us out. In fact many of the officers 
and some of the men took refuge in the camp of some 
regular artillery stationed near us. Here I met several 
officers of Col. Tidball's old regiment (2nd Regulars), 
and others, among whom was Capt. Manydier, and listened 
to some marvelous tales of former ''fields and floods" re- 
lated by a dashing young Lieutenant whose name I have 
forgotten, but whose deeds had eclipsed those of Napoleon 
at the Bridge of Areola, or the participators in the "Charge 
of the Light Brigade." Col. Tidball has reported to Gen. 
Hunt, chief of artillery of the Army of the Potomac, but 
no light is yet thrown on the question what is to be done 
with the regiment. 

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3OTH. 

The storm has abated somewhat, but everything looks 
damp and dismal. The men are employed drying out, and 
endeavoring to render themselves comfortable and more 
secure in case of future floods by ditching about their 
tents so as to carry off the water, while the officers gath- 
ered here and there in little groups, anxiously discuss the 
possibilities of the future. 



II 

THURSDAY, MARCH 3 1 ST, 

Still in camp near Brandy Station and still no intimation 
of what is to become of us. But two incidents worthy of 
note occurred to-day. The first was the spectacle pre- 
sented by the Commander of Co, H, who might have been 
seen passing down the company street with a loaf of soft 
bread in one hand and a piece of raw salt pork in the other, 
dining as he went, and here I will honestly record the fact, 
though I know I am kicking against the pricks of public 
prejudice, that of all the sumptuous dinners which I have 
done or which have done me, I hold none in more pleas- 
ing remembrance than the one above spoken of, composed 
of army bread, raw pork and a good appetite. The other 
noticeable fact was the Dress Parade, the first since we 
left Washington, and which passed off very creditably 
considering all the circumstances, 

Friday, April ist. 

We received orders this morning to join the Artillery 
Brigade of the Second Corps, and so, breaking camp, we 
marched through devious ways to a point near a little 
settlement called Stevensburg. As the well filled ranks 
of the regiment wound along across the plain, through 
the gullies and over the hills, we were frequently saluted 
by the old campaigners near whose camps we passed, with 
"What division is that ?" "How are your heavy Infantry ?" 
"What's the size of your siege guns?" "How are the for- 
tifications?" and other equally pointed and aggravating 
interrogations, to all of which the men either turned a deaf 
ear or replied with becoming emphasis. 

Rain commenced falling about the time we had completed 



12 

the first half of the distance and continued uninterruptedly 
during the rest of the day, rendering progress exceedingly 
toilsome and slow, and to add to our discomfort, on arriv- 
ing at our destination and being kept standing and lying 
in the rain and mud for some time, the Colonel selected 
the side of a steep hill for our camping ground, in my 
judgment the very worst locality for such a purpose in all 
that region. But having long since learned obedience to 
orders, we occupied the ground to the best advantage, sat- 
isfied that at least no water would settle in our company 
streets. Immediately on locating the metes and bounds 
of the company camp, I gave the men liberty to put up 
their tents at -once, or seek refuge for the night in the 
quarters of any acquaintances they might find in regiments 
lying near us. Many of the men, therefore, accepted the 
hospitalities of the 126 N. Y. Infantry, which was camped 
on a hill across the ravine from us, that regiment having 
been recruited mainly in the western part of the State, 
where my own company was originally organized, and 
containing many friends and acquaintances of the boys. 
The 126th had originally been camped in a grove, but dur- 
ing the winter had cut away the trees for fuel and to 
stockade their winter quarters, so that at the time we saw 
them they were surrounded only by a few stumps. Their 
habitations were, however, comparatively luxurious, being 
built about six or eight feet square and four or five feet 
high, of logs nicely laid in mud-mortar, and covered with 
two shelter tents fastened together. They were provided 
with fire places of the old outside, New England pattern, 
with cracker boxes and barrels for chimneys, and with 
"bunks" of small parallel poles supported by posts driven 
into the ground and covered with leaves and army blankets, 



13 

« 

usually occupying about half the interior and doing duty 
as beds, chairs and tables. I spent the night with Lieut. 
Lincoln of the 126th, who, being Adjutant of his regiment, 
had appropriated a wall tent and was most comfortably 
situated. Here I met Col. Bull of the 126th, formerly of 
Canandaigua, with whom I had studied law, and several of 
his officers, and spent a very pleasant evening chatting 
with them. The Colonel evidently enjoyed the fact that 
the defenders of Washington had been ordered to the 
front, and took great delight in reminding me that he 
had prophesied as much sometime before when we had met 
at the Capital. 

One little incident occurred to-day which put me out of 
all conceit touching my ability entirely to control the men 
of my command as to ''what they should eat or what they 
should drink or wherewithal they should be clothed." Now 
it has heretofore been my pride and boast that the pre- 
eminence of Co. H in drill, discipline and all the military 
virtues, was owing principally to the fact that whiskey was 
not allowed in the company, except on very rare state occa- 
sions or after unusual fatigue, and never without my knowl- 
edge. Fancy my feelings then, as we halted at the foot of 
the hill waiting for the Colonel to locate our position, when 
I asked Sergt. Lincoln if he ''had anything in his canteen," 
meaning thereby to inquire for water, for my own canteen 
had given out on the road, and he with a prompt "Yes, 
sir," handed it to me and I took a swallow that would 
have done credit to a sluice-way, and discovered too late 
that I had taken an overdose of the vilest "commissary" 
known to army contractors. The effect was instantaneous 
and apparent, and so embarrassed my respiratory and vocal 
powers, that I failed to find language adequate to convey 



14 

my astonishment, or thanks, to the Sergeant, who evidently 
congratulated himself that "no remarks were made" as 
I handed back the canteen without note or comment. I 
shall, however, be more explicit in my inquiries hereafter. 

SATURDAY, APRIL 2ND. 

This morning we found the ground covered with snow 
to the depth of about four inches and a snow storm still 
raging. Went over to my company camp and found every- 
thing in the most cheerless possible condition. The field 
officers of the regiment have their tents up, but find them 
little protection, though they strenuously endeavor to get 
up a little fire in two or three camp stoves which have 
been smuggled thus far, and whiskey is in great demand. 
As to the men, their condition is truly deplorable, and the 
sick list is very long this morning owing to the exposure 
and consequent suffering. Having ascertained that no new 
orders have been received, and that most of my own com- 
pany are quartered with the 126th. I returned to Lieut. 
Lincoln's tent and accepted the invitation of Capt. and 
Lieut. Munson of the 126th to spend the night with them. 
After I had turned in I was aroused by Capt. Piatt of the 
126th, who, personating a raw recruit who had enlisted 
with the promise of a Captain's commission as soon as he 
had joined his regiment, was convulsing a party of officers 
in the hut, with the recital of his grievances in not getting 
the promised position. Capt. Piatt is a perfect mimic, and 
would do credit to any stage as a first-class comedian. 

SUNDAY, APRIL 3RD. 

The snow storm abated somewhat this morning, and I 
took the opportunity to have my ''headquarters" pitched. 



15 

These consist of two "A" tents fastened together end to 
end, the rear one occupied by a bed for Lieut. Edmonston 
and myself and the front one by a bed for Lieut. Gleason. 
These beds are very primitive structures, composed of small 
boughs of pine covered with leaves and blankets, and are 
kept in position, and the occupants prevented from falling 
out of bed, by sticks or boards staked up about them like 
the sides of a box. Having dug a trench around the outside 
of the tents, and built a mud fire place in the corner of the 
front room, we flattered ourselves that we were secure 
against the elements, but a rain storm coming on, we find 
that **all is vanity," for the water comes through the canvas 
like a sieve and puts out our fire, so we go to bed, and, 
drawing our rubber blankets over our heads, take a quiet 
nap. Most of the company having returned to camp and 
put up their tents, they crawl into them and shiver through 
it. 

MONDAY, APRIL 4TH. 

The storm still continues, and though the men make 
spasmodic efforts to render themselves more comfortable 
by ditching about their little tents, it is about as much as 
human nature will bear. Lieut. Gleason, who is not very 
strong at best, being a victim of rheumatism, is nearly 
drowned in his blankets, and looks very much as if he'd 
''like to see his mother," while Lieut. Edmonston and I 
divide our time between our "bunk" in about two inches 
of water, and the Colonel's wall tent in about the same 
depth of mud. 

MONDAY, APRIL IITH. 

Nothing of special interest has occurred since the 4th. 



i6 

We are still camped on the side hill near Stevensburg and 
the weather continues cold and rainy, while the term 
"mud" scarcely conveys an idea of the condition of the 
soil. Two or three rations of whiskey have been issued 
to the men and, I am bound to say under the circumstances, 
with beneficial results. Lieut. Gleason has been discharged 
from the service on a surgeon's certificate of physical disa- 
bility, and if he escapes with his life after the experience of 
the past ten days he will do well. Second Lieut. Clark, who 
assisted me in recruiting for the Eleventh, is assigned to 
my company to fill his place. Whenever the weather has 
permitted, we have endeavored to pick up some knowledge 
of skirmish drill, however distasteful that is to an artillery 
soldier. We have also had one or two dress parades in 
"close column by battalion," the regimental line being too 
long for our parade ground in the usual formation. It is 
rumored about camp that the Artillery Brigade of the Sec- 
ond Corps is to be composed of twelve light batteries, and 
that our regiment is to support these batteries when in ac- 
tion, and act as guard for their camps and trains, a duty 
usually performed by infantry. Now that the "powers 
that be" have got us into the field, it looks to me very much 
as if they don't know what to do with us. 

TUESDAY, APRIL I2TH. 

The only improvement in our condition or in the weather 
to-day was the arrival of the paymaster to pay us off to- 
morrow. There are rumors that the regiment is to be di- 
vided and a battalion sent to each of three Corps, to join 
its Artillery Brigade. 



17 

WEDNESDAY, APRIL I3TH. 

The regiment to-day received two months' pay, and the 
sutler, King, was rendered happy if no one else was. The 
event was celebrated by the men in making large purchases 
of useless sutler's stores, and by many of the officers in a 
reception at the private tent of the sutler, where, I regret 
to say, a large number did more than justice to several 
casks of ale and bottles of whiskey. Among those who 
distinguished themselves most conspicuously was Lieut. 
Blank, who, like the famous ''Carrier of Southwell," 

"A Carrier who carried a can to his mouth well, 
He carriea so much and he carried so fast 
He could carry no more, so was carried at last — " 

into a corner of the tent, where he passed the night in quiet 
and peaceful repose. 

Orders were received to-day directing a battalion of the 
regiment to be sent to the Artillery Brigade of each of the 
three Corps, and accordingly the First Battalion, under 
Major Sears, broke camp and marched over to the Sixth 
Corps. This disposition of our regiment is exceedingly 
distasteful to both officers and men, but as it seems that 
all hope of being supplied with a siege train must be given 
up, we look upon this as a sort of compromise between 
Artillery and Infantry, and though it looks very much 
as if we should become simply ''hewers of wood and draw- 
ers of water" for the light batteries, we accept the assign- 
ment as the least of the two evils. 

THURSDAY, APRIL I4TH. 

The day was spent in determining which of the remain- 



i8 

ing battalions should go to the Fifth Corps, and what 
companies should compose it, and, when it was finally de- 
cided to send the Second Battalion, by that command in 
packing up and preparing to move, while Major Arthur 
reported in person to his new Brigade Commander, Col. 
Wainwright. 

Col. Bull, of the 126th, called on me and congratulated 
me on the fact that my Battalion is to go to the Fifth 
Corps, saying that as that Corps is largely composed of 
regulars, if there is "a soft snap" anywhere that command 
will be likely to get it, but I doubt if any partiality is shown 
even if it could be. It has rained every day but two since 
we reached Stevensburg two weeks ago, and though in 
common with many others I used to wonder why the army 
did not move, since coming down here and seeing the 
country, the climate, the weather, the soil and the army 
with its necessary wagon, supply, hospital and ammunition 
trains, its batteries and accessories, my wonder is that 
it can ever move at all. 

FRIDAY, APRIL I5TH. 

The Second BattaHon, under Major Arthur, composed 
of Companies D, K, H, and E, took up its line of march 
for the Fifth Corps this morning, passing through a pleas- 
ant, open country stretching away from the foot of "Pony 
Mountain," and after a march of about six or eight miles 
reached its destination near the village of Culpepper. Here, 
in an old orchard near a large but dilapidated brick house 
about a mile from Culpepper, we located our camp. While 
pitching tents I was surprised and delighted to see Capt. 
Jim McNair, of the 8th N. Y. Cavalry, an old Geneseo 
school-mate and friend of mine, who had heard of our ex- 



19 

pected arrival in these parts and had ridden over to meet 
us. Leaving the company in charge of Lieut. Edmon- 
ston, I mounted the horse of Jim's orderly and rode with 
him over to Culpepper on a foraging expedition, which, 
however, was not a very marked success, for we found 
the town almost wholly deserted by the inhabitants; the 
fences and buildings destroyed or badly damaged, and the 
streets full of army wagons and straggling soldiers. Gen. 
Grant, and Gen. Warren of our Corps, have established 
their Headquarters here, though there are but three or 
four houses in the town which are not riddled with shot 
and shell or have windows and doors left in them. The 
churches are being utilized as hospitals, and the little ur- 
chins on the street are as bitter as the few older inhabi- 
tants who remain, and assure us as we pass along that 
"when the Rebs come back you-uns will skedaddle." 

After an exceedingly plain and frugal repast at a mis- 
erable apology for a restaurant, and a short stroll about 
town, we returned to camp, where, parting with Jim, I 
found my shelter tent temporarily pitched for my recep- 
tion. I find we are in the midst of a country where stir- 
ring scenes have taken place, some even as late as during 
the past winter. Just in rear of us, on a plain running back 
to a dense wood, and in the wood itself, occurred a severe 
cavalry fight, and the place where our camp now stands 
was crossed and re-crossed Dy the combatants and the earth 
stained with the blood of brave men, while the old orchard 
trees are cut and scarred by the bullets. The old brick 
house near us is occupied in part by an elderly lady and 
her granddaughter of the close-communion "Secesh" per- 
suasion, and m part by the Brigade Commissary, whose 
stores consist principally of hard tack and whiskey. One 



20 

can scarcely conceive of a more utterly forsaken looking 
habitation than this residence of one of the "F. F. V.'s." 
The barns, stables, sheds and fences which formerly be- 
longed to or surrounded it, have been torn down piece- 
meal to supply fuel or to build shanties for soldiers. Not 
a green thing, not even grass, is allowed to grow about, 
and the old shell itself is literally tottering to decay. The 
doors, what few remain, swing loosely on leather hinges; 
the windows, demolished by patriotic Yankee valor, admit 
at once the sunshine and the storm, while the rickety old 
veranda that once graced the front on either side, now 
serves as a roost for three or four sickly chickens (all the 
tenant's visible earthly possessions), and a loafing place 
for a few idle army officers. I mean to take an early oppor- 
tunity, however, to pay my respects to the ladies. 



SATURDAY, APRIL i6tH. 

Spent the day in fixing up about camp, arranging cook 
house, for we still retain our old company cook, William 
Wood, and generally endeavoring to make the company as 
comfortable as circumstances will permit. I am projecting 
a residence for myself of the greatest magnificence and 
grandeur. An eminent architect has been employed and 
the plans and specifications completed and adopted, and I 
only await the reports of the contractors who have gone 
out to discover some old corduroy road which will furnish 
the necessary lumber in the shape of poles. I shall hope 
to erect, complete and furnish it within an hour after the 
timber arrives. 



21 



SUNDAY, APRIL 17TH. 

The churches in these parts being "closed for repairs," 
or the clergymen being on their vacations, we were com- 
pelled to spend the day in camp, and "works of necessity 
and mercy" being always in order, and the materials hav- 
ing arrived, with the assistance of my men Lynch and Joe 
Solomon, who for gallant and meritorious services as 
"beats," have long since been promoted from the ranks 
to the position of Acting Assistant Adjutant Generals at 
my Headquarters, I completed my mansion at the head of 
the company street. This imposing structure, calculated 
to furnish accommodations for Lieut. Edmonston and my- 
self, is built to the height of about three feet, of poles 
laid up after the manner of the cob houses of my boyhood, 
and is covered with canvas sustained by a ridge pole about 
five feet from the ground. Its dimensions are six feet by 
ten, it being constructed on the sound architectural prin- 
cipal that "man wants but little here below but wants that 
little" longer than it is broad, and though some maliciously 
inclined individual might at first profanely take it for a 
third-rate hog pen, yet the massive chimney of two head- 
less barrels and a cracker box, pointing heavenward from 
one corner, would soon dispel the possible illusion, and 
suggest the more pleasing and Christian idea of a little 
modern church, with its lofty gable and castellated tower. 
The internal arrangements are all made with the strictest 
reference to economical utility. The farther end is occu- 
pied by the inevitable "bunk" of poles, whereon by strictly 
conforming the wearied form to Hogarth's line of beauty, 
a moderate share of sleep and rest may be enjoyed, par- 
ticularly if the various joints and angles of the said form 
are judiciously disposed with due reference to the inter- 



22 

stices between the poles. Under the bed is a spacious 
closet used as a general storeroom for old muskets and the 
various odds and ends of surplus and decayed ''camp and 
garrison equipage." A single board propped against the 
poles and supporting an inkstand, graces the western wall, 
and the modest but handsome furniture of the apartment is 
completed by an empty cracker box, which performs the va- 
rious offices of table, desk, chair, buffet, commode or can- 
dlestick, as "the exigencies of the service" may require. 

MONDAY, APRIL i8tH. 

Weather warm and pleasant. Private Hastings died sud- 
denly to-day in a fit brought on by dissipation, I learn 
that he was a dentist of considerable skill and reputation 
at home, and belonged to a highly respectable family, and 
I have directed his body to be sent to Washington to be 
embalmed, and have written to his friends, forwarding 
his few personal effects. 

I called this afternoon on the ladies occupying the old 
brick house, with a view of polishing up my manners a 
little, which I fear have suffered materially from long ab- 
sence from the "elevating and refining influences of female 
society," and also for the purpose of purchasing a pie, the 
consumption of which would appear to be the highest type 
of physical beatitude just at this time. I found the ladies 
occupying a corner room on the first floor, having deserted 
the rest of the premises, and engaged in entertaining Capt. 
Jones of Co. D of our battalion, and vigorously rocking 
a miniature canal boat wherein unconsciously reposed a 
scion of the noble house. Jones being a handsome young 
man, and versed in all the little arts that kill or captivate, 



in which particulars he ranks me, I leave conversation 
pretty much to him, except on the pie question, and occu- 
pying a primitive cane-bottomed chair, listen attentively to 
the stories of war, privation and suffering which "we uns" 
have brought upon ''they uns" in the pure and unadulter- 
ated Virginia vernacular. The elder lady is a woman of 
perhaps sixty years of age, and the younger, the mother 
of the cradle-full, is a stout masculine creature of about 
thirty. Both are clad in the plainest and scantiest home- 
spun, and the few articles of furniture and clothing that 
are scattered about the room are of the meanest and dirtiest 
description. In one corner of the room is an old bed, with 
a dilapidated hoopskirt and other articles of female wear- 
ing apparel scattered about upon it to the best advantage 
apparently. Two or three old chairs adorn the next corner 
and side of the room, together with a lounge of antique 
structure. Then comes another hoopskirt on a nail, a door 
and three or four dresses "and things" hanging to as many 
nails. Then alongside of a primitive table, in a tub stuffed 
with straw, sits an old hen endeavoring to hatch a brood 
of chickens from a nest full of eggs. The older woman 
is sharp featured, rather large, dark-haired and wears 
high-heeled shoes, and as she sits in the cradle while rock- 
ing it, she frequently addresses the dirty little occupant 
as "little lady," from which fact I gather that the infant 
also belongs to the female persuasion. In conversation 
with Jones, and doubtless to impress us both with the fact 
that her family was "some pumpkins" "befo' the wa'," the 
old lady said that when her husband died some years ago 
he left her "Wal, sar, I couldn't say, sar, how much land, 
but it goes down to the run (all streams are called "runs" 
here), then over thar and thar and thar," etc., indicating 



M 

not less than a thousand acres. That she had three «ons 
"on the Hne" (i. e., in the Reb army), and that her grand- 
daughter there present lost her husband at "Anti-eat-um." 
That she was ''bom and raised right thar, and was never 
further Horth than Warrenton" (eight or ten miles). That 
"Virginians used to think the north a splendid country, 
but didn't think so much of it now." That "thar used to 
be lots o' niggers about here (there isn't one now) ; they's 
the cause of the war and I wish thar wasn't one on earth, 
and a good many Virginians wish so, too." She thought 
it wicked to make soldiers of the negroes, but that coloni- 
zation was just the thing. She believed heartily in the 
Southern Confederacy, and would not take the Yankee 
oath of allegiance for "a million o' dollars." She was willing 
to take both greenbacks and Confederate scrip at par for 
her pies, and rejoiced that she had been able to save six 
chickens and five guinea hens from the ravages of war. 
She pointed out a house where a Yankee shell had killed 
two Rebs and wounded four or five others, and told us 
that a Yankee Captain was killed right by the spring 
from which we got all our water, and that a Reb was killed 
just where our camp is located, and wound up by showing 
us some houses two or three miles away where she said 
some very pretty "Secesh" girls resided, and I couldn't 
but hope that their surroundings were more attractive than 
those of this old woman and her grand-daughter. No 
northern family, however poor, could live amid such sur- 
roundings, and yet these people speak with loftiest con- 
tempt of the "dirty niggers" and the "mean whites," and 
anathematize the uncivilized "Yanks," not excepting their 
present company, just as if the commissariat of those same 
"Yanks" was not all that stands between them and starva- 



25 

tion. My cravings for "polite society" having been fully 
satisfied I withdrew, not, however, until I had secured a 
fair specimen of a "secesh" pie for which I paid the mod- 
erate price of forty cents in greenbacks, but which I soon 
discovered, by analytical mastication, was apparently com- 
posed of saw-dust and cider "bound in calf." 

TUESDAY, APRIL IQTH. 

Sent the body of Private Hastings to Washington in 
charge of Corpl. Foster for embalmment, after much diffi- 
culty in securing a coffin and transportation at Culpepper. 
Capt. Jones with his company, D, was to-day detailed as 
a guard for the ammunition train of our Artillery Bri- 
gade, which leaves three companies of our Battalion still 
to be disposed of, and Lieut. Edmonston was detailed as a 
member of a Brigade Court Martial. 

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20TH. 

Received an order detailing Col. James L. Bates, 12th 
Mass., Capt. C. A. Watkins, 76th New York, and myself, 
as a Board to examine enlisted men of the Fifth Corps 
who are recommended for admission to the Military School 
at Philadelphia, whence, after a brief attendance, so it is 
said, they are to be sent before Gen. Casey's Board at 
Washington for examination as to fitness for commissions 
in the negro regiments. 

THURSDAY, APRIL 2 1 ST, 

Received an official copy of the order promulgated yes- 
terday, and reported in person to Col. Bates, President 
of the Board. I found him drilling his regiment, and 



26 

made an appointment to meet to-morrow at 9 o'clock at 
Corps Headquarters at Culpepper. 

FRIDAY, APRIL 22NI>. 

Lieut. Clark having been detailed to Co. E, which has 
been assigned to guard the ammunition train, and Lieut. 
Edmonston being still engaged on court martial, I left the 
Company in command of First Sergt. Theben this morn- 
ing, and met the officers composing the examining board 
at Corps Headquarters. Col. Locke, the gentlemanly Adjt. 
Genl. of the Fifth Corps, had quarters, stationery and the 
necessary orderlies assigned to us, and the Board began 
operations. 

SATURDAY, APRIL 23RD. 

When the mail for the Company was distributed to- 
day, Sergeant Theben received a package containing 
two pairs of heavy woolen socks, and until I explained 
the situation, his gratitude to the unknown donor was un- 
bounded. I had forgotten to inform him that at Stevens- 
burg I had written home for the articles, and inasmuch 
as only enlisted men were permitted to receive such things 
through the mail, I had, without any regard for the postal 
rules, directed that they be sent to me via Theben, and 
hence the contretemps. Previous to leaving Fort Marcy, 
and following the advice of a relative who had been out 
for two years with Duryea's Zouaves, I had supplied my- 
self with woolen under and over shirts, but had neglected 
the socks, but with our experience at Stevensburg I made 
haste to complete the woolen outfit. 



27 
MONDAY, MAY 2ND. 

Still in camp near Culpepper. Nothing of interest has 
occurred since the 23rd of April beyond the daily routine 
of camp life, except that large bodies of troops have been 
moving up and camping near us, or passing by towards 
the Rapidan (Rapid Ann). The company has been al- 
most exclusively in command of Sergt. Theben, Lieut. 
Edmonston and I having been constantly engaged, the 
one on court martial and the other on the examining board. 
Since the organization of the board we have met daily at 
9 o'clock in the morning and continued in session until 
3 in the afternoon, examining on an average twenty-five 
candidates a day, and recommending about one third of 
them for leaves of absence. Col. Bates, I find, is perfectly 
familiar with infantry tactics and army regulations, and 
conducts his part of the examination very thoroughly, leav- 
ing artillery and mathematics to me. Capt. Watkins is a 
capital fellow, but does not trouble the "victim" with 
many questions. He says he is entirely satisfied with the 
examinations as conducted by the Colonel and myself, and 
that his department is '*to give character and dignity to 
the Board, and inspire the applicants with a just sense of 
the importance of that body." The list of candidates em- 
braces representatives from all classes of men and all 
branches of the service. The dapper First Sergeant of 
the Regulars and the dilapidated army ''bummer" stand 
side by side and hand in their "recommendations." The 
influential politician of some rural district, who enlisted 
as a private from "purely patriotic motives," now bleached 
of his patriotism, sits nervously at the door awaiting the 
result of this his last expedient to gain the path of promo- 



28 

tion and honor. The rough, honest country boy with cor- 
poral's chevrons, shares the anxious seat with the intelli- 
gent representative of the legal profession, whose simple 
army blouse hides all appearance of the "wig and gown." 
In fact every conceivable shade of character, capacity and 
intelligence is represented, and the labor of sifting the 
wheat from the chaff is by no means light. The fact, how- 
ever, that we have now been in session nearly two weeks, 
and have reported favorably on about a hundred cases, 
and yet no furlough has been granted in accordance there- 
with, furnishes some ground for the suspicion that the 
object of this proceeding is rather to allay the agitation 
of some turbulent spirits, and occupy their leisure mo- 
ments in camp until the time comes for a movement of the 
army, rather than to furnish students for the Philadelphia 
School or officers for the colored troops. 

TUESDAY, MAY 3RD. 

Received orders after ''taps," about lo o'clock, to-night 
to be ready to move in two- hours. Rumors of all kinds 
are flying about, and the general impression seems to be 
that the whole army is in motion. I directed Sergeant 
Theben to turn out the company, strike tents and pack up, 
which was accomplished in less than the time allotted. But 
one wagon is detailed to furnish transportation for the 
effects of the whole battalion, so baggage is reduced to 
the minimum, and large quantities of ordnance stores and 
camp and garrison equipage, as well as private property 
of officers and men, are left behind strewn over the camp- 
ing ground, a striking illustration of the waste of war. 



29 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 4TH. 

Orders to march were received at two o'clock this morn- 
ing, and joining the Artillery Brigade, already in line, we 
moved off via Stevensburg to the Germania Ford, on the 
Rapidan River, which we reached about lo o'clock A. M. 
Here the river, which in any reputable northern locality 
would be called simply a creek, cuts its way between two 
ranges of hills with the bank on the southerly side quite 
abrupt, and is spanned by a pontoon bridge, the first thing 
of the kind I have ever seen. Crossing the bridge and 
winding up the steep bank, we halted just within a line 
of breastworks constructed to command the approaches to 
the ford, but which were abandoned by the enemy last night 
on the appearance of our advancing cavalry. The earth- 
works were skilfully and substantially built, while little 
redoubts for artillery crowned several commanding points, 
and it is a subject of general surprise that the enemy evac- 
uated so strong a defensive position without any serious 
attempt to hold it. A few shells and a stray minie ball 
now and then greeted us, invited perhaps by our own 
artillery, a battery of which, drawn up near the road by 
which we descended to the bridge, sent a half dozen shells 
towards the heights on the opposite side of the river. One 
of the minies went through my overcoat which Lynch 
just behind me was carrying nicely rolled up on his 
shoulder, and as he unrolled the garment that night and 
showed me the numerous holes made by the missile as it 
went through the folds, he remarked with a chuckle, "Its 
a good thing you weren't in it that time, Captain." After 
crossing the bridge we passed an old tobacco drying shed, 
and some of my men helped themselves to a few specimens 



30 

of genuine ''Virginia Leaf," and that evening presented 
me a handful of very well rolled but rather green "home 
made" cigars. 

The day was warm and pleasant, and the men, with 
characteristic recklessness, threw away one article after 
another, until many were reduced to pants, shirt, hat and 
musket, and the line of march from Culpepper to the river 
was literally covered with coats, blankets and knapsacks, 
a rich field for foraging, whether by the rebels or by cav- 
alry. Nor can I blame the poor fellows under the circum- 
stances, for a long march is about as convincing an argu- 
ment as I know of that 

*'Man wants but little here below, 
Nor wants that little long." 

I myself debated for some time which I would part with 
— my overcoat or my blanket — and finally actually threw 
the blanket away. 

By a singular coincidence I met Col. Bates and Capt. 
Watkins, of the Culpepper Examining Board, about 9 
o'clock this morning near the Rapidan, each with his regi- 
ment, and as we had adjourned yesterday to meet at that 
hour to-day, we halted under a tree and amid considerable 
laughter adjourned the Board sine die. Lieut. Shelton, of 
the First N. Y. Artillery, passed me with his battery on 
the march to-day, having just got his promotion from a 
sergeantcy and therefore feeling in excellent spirits. 

At about five o'clock we reached our destination for the 
day, after a march estimated at twenty-three miles, and 
camped in a field near the old Wilderness Tavern and 
some four miles from Mine Run. 



31 

THURSDAY, MAY 5TH. 

Turned out stiff and sore this morning, and drenched to 
the skin with dew, which falls so heavily here that in the 
morning the appearance of the tents and fields is very 
much like that after a severe storm. At five o'clock fell in 
line and, joining the Corps Headquarter 's train as a guard, 
we started for Orange Court House. After marching 
about a mile we began to hear occasional shots from the 
picket line which preceded us, as our skirmishers met those 
of the "Jc^hnnies," and soon we received orders to counter- 
march and park the train. Returning to the point whence 
we started we stacked arms in a meadow immediately in 
front of General Headquarters and awaited developments. 

While on the march we met a body of prisoners, who, 
because we had cut loose from our communications and 
so could not safely send them to any point in our rear, 
were kept moving in a circle close to the army and under 
a strong guard. Among them was a young man of about 
my own age, a Captain in some Georgia regiment, and 
calling him aside we sat down for a few moments on a 
bank of clay while my company was passing. He was a 
member of the staff of some Georgia brigade, and was 
captured the night before on the picket line, where he ran 
into a Yankee picket post supposing it to be composed 
ot his own men. He had read law at the Harvarcf Law 
School, which he left to join the Southern army, and was 
a typical southern aristocrat who looked upon Northerners 
as little better than the "poor whites" of the South. He 
was very bitter in his denunciation of the war, and utterly 
scorned the idea that the South could be "subjugated," 
actually declaring with the utmost sincerity that the north 



32 

was already tired of the effort, and that even now the grass 
was growing between the stones of the pavements on 
Broadway in the City of New York, and he showed a clip- 
ping from a southern paper in which that statement was 
actually made. I assured him that I had been in New York 
in the previous March, and that from the appearance of 
things there no one would suspect that a war was going 
on, but I could make no impression upon him whatever. 
As we parted he gave me his name, but as I did not make 
a note of it I forgot it before night, a fact for which I am 
very sorry as I would like to meet him again after the war 
is over. 

The picket firing, which in the morning was light and 
desultory, gradually increased as the day advanced and 
seemed to draw nearer and extend to the right. Mean- 
time numerous divisions, brigades and regiments are 
pressed hastily forward to various points, and as they are 
lost in the woods and come within range, the sound of 
musketry deepens until it resembles the roll of heavy 
thunder, particularly on the right and in front of our 
(Fifth) corps. Soon the stretcher-bearers, with their 
ghastly freight, begin to pass by us to the hospitals now 
established on the plank road in our re^r, and returning, 
with their stretchers dripping with the blood of the last 
occupants, press to the front again for other wounded. 
Crowds of soldiers, slightly wounded and assisted by com- 
rades, flock past, many of whom as they stop to rest en- 
tertain our boys with stories of the fearful slaughter. 
Sounds like these followed by sights like these are not, I 
am bound to say, calculated to screw one's courage to the 
sticking point, and I am decidedly of opinion that in time 
of action, troops just out of range are in more danger of 



33 

demoralization than those at the immediate front. The 
former see only the wounded, the dying and the dead, not 
the living. They hear the terrible sounds of the combat 
and the groans of the suffering, not the cheers of the vic- 
tors. They listen to tales of bloody and disastrous defeat, 
not of the crowning victory. In short, every sense is ab- 
sorbed in the contemplation of the horrors rather than the 
glories of war. 

About one o'clock P. M. a little cannonading was heard, 
but the surface of the country is so broken and irregu- 
lar, and the forests, with their undergrowth of saplings, 
vines and brambles are so dense, that but little use can 
be made of artillery. Lieut. Shelton, of our brigade, whom 
I saw riding gaily by yesterday, lost two guns to-day on a 
narrow road in our front and was himself taken prisoner. 
Various wild rumors are flying about, such as that two 
rebel brigades were completely annihilated this morning, 
but though the fighting has been very hot and the losses 
undoubtedly great on both sides, as the firing dies away 
I cannot learn that either side has attained any decided 
advantage. The movements would seem to indicate efforts 
on both sides to get control of commanding points pre- 
paratory to more bloody and decisive work. Just at night 
the Headquarters Train moved back a short distance across 
the plank road by which we came into the field, and parked 
in an old corn field, while our battalion pitched its tents 
near by. Just after I had crawled under my shelter tent I 
heard the familiar voice of Dr. Lawrence, one of our as- 
sistant surgeons, now of the First Battalion attached to 
the Sixth Corps, anxiously inquiring for my tent, and, 
having found it, he jumped from his horse and looking in 
inquired breathlessly if I was much hurt. I assured him 



34. 

that so far as I knew I was not yet very badly damaged, 
whereupon he expressed the greatest rehef, and explained 
that he had ridden in great haste from the Sixth Corps 
headquarters, some three miles away, where he had been 
mformed that I had been very dangerously wounded. Be- 
ing assured of my safety, and showing me the instru- 
ments he had brought for the purpose of taking off my 
leg, arm or head, as the case might require, he remounted 
his horse and was soon lost in the darkness, but I shall 
not soon forget an act of such disinterested kindness on 
the part of the doctor, upon whom I had no sort of claim 
whatever, personal or professional. 

FRIDAY, MAY 6tH. 

We were aroused at half-past two o'clock this morning 
by an officer who brought us orders to leave the Headquar- 
ters Train and to report at Corps Headquarters at once, 
which order we instantly obeyed. Arriving at Gen. War- 
ren's headquarters, which were then at the Lacy House, in a 
commanding position upon a hill from which a view could 
be had of the dense woods upon all sides forming part of 
the Wilderness in which the troops of the Fifth Corps now 
lay in line of battle, we halted on the southerly slope, and, 
stacking arms, began to boil our coffee, the favorite occu- 
pation of the soldiers upon all occasions when a halt is or- 
dered, expecting every moment to be ordered into the line. 
Soon Company E, which had been ordered up from the 
ammunition train, joined us, and from the strenuous ef- 
forts made to bring every available man to the front, and 
the anxiety apparent on the faces of the officers about 
Headquarters, we were convinced that a crisis was ap- 
proaching. Before daylight the ball was opened by the 



35 

skirmishers, and about half-past four the artillery, such 
as could be efficiently used, joined in the chorus. As the 
day dawned the firing increased all along the lines, and the 
pattering of the skirmishes was soon lost in the deep and 
terrible roll of the musketry of the main lines. I never lis- 
tened to a sound more thrilling than that of this morn- 
ing's engagement. The loudest and longest peals of thun- 
der were no more to be compared to it in depth and vol- 
ume, than the rippling of a trout brook to the roaring of 
Niagara. The Sixth New York and other regiments of 
Heavy Artillery left in the defenses of Washington when 
we were ordered out, passed us this morning going for- 
ward to fill a gap in the line through which the enemy is 
momentarily expected to pour its charging columns, and 
to repel which all the reserved artillery has been in posi- 
tion in front of Headquarters with the guns shotted and 
the cannoneers at their posts. Fortunately, the weak spot 
is not discovered by our adversaries, but the crowds of 
wounded surging from the woods in every direction and 
hastening to the rear, bear terrible witness to the desperate 
valor of the combatants, and show a gradual but certain 
weakening of the lines. Here again I am compelled to 
bear the mortification of being asked by a staff officer what 
Battery I command, and upon pointing out my company 
of foot soldiers, hearing the officer add apologetically, "Ah, 
you are one of the Heavies." I shall never cease to con- 
demn in the strongest terms the action of the Government 
in enlisting us for one branch of the service and then, with- 
out our consent, transferring us to another. 

About three o'clock P. M., we were ordered to the front, 
and with many speculations as to our destination, we fell 
in line and marched across an open field into the woods. 



36 

Entering the low pines and underbrush through which 
roads had been cut for the passage of artillery and am- 
bulances, we moved noiselessly along until we emerged 
from the pines in a hollow, and formed line of battle be- 
side a little brook just in rear of several batteries of artil- 
lery, which, being in position, connected the extreme right 
of the Fifth Corps with the left of the Sixth. Here, stack- 
ing arms until the engineers should complete the breast- 
works on the left of the batteries, the men unslung their 
knapsacks, built their little fires and improved the time 
boiling their coifee. About seven o'clock, and while we 
were still busy at our hard-tack and coffee, the firing 
opened very briskly to the right, and soon a mounted staff 
officer dashed wildly down upon us, shouting at the top 
of his voice that the Sixth Corps had broken and was 
retreating before the victorious Rebs, who in a few min- 
utes would be upon us also and ''gobble us up," closing 
his remarks by ordering us forward into the unfinished 
rifle-pit. Such information calmly and quietly conveyed 
to veterans far in the rear, would hardly inspire them with 
martial ardor. What, then, must be the effect on green 
troops on the front line with arms stacked and belts laid 
aside? As might have been expected, the result was well 
nigh disastrous, for nearly every man in the battalion, with 
the natural instinct of self-preservation, seized his knap- 
sack and started on the double-quick for the rear. Fortu- 
nately, however, the officers were in the rear of the line, 
and, with the assistance of the non-commissioned officers 
and a few cool-headed private soldiers, by threats and 
prayers, by words and blows, finally restored order, and, 
forming the line, the battalion moved into the rifle-pits. 
Joe, one of my bodyguards, however, would have distin- 



37 

guished himself on this occasion by gallantly retreating and 
carrying away my sword and revolver, which I had taken 
off a few moments before the stampede commenced, had 
I not caught him just in time to save my property, though 
he himself disappeared. Notwithstanding the terrible fore- 
bodings of the mounted officer referred to, and who by 
this time had no doubt reported at Headquarters, the firing 
gradually died away, and, being assured by the engineers 
that there were two lines of battle in the woods in front 
of us, we laid down to pleasant dreams in the rifle-pits, 
merely stationing a picket to guard our slumbers. Gen- 
eral Wadsworth, and Lieut. Walker of our Sixth Corps 
battalion, were killed, and private Washington Covert, of 
my company, was wounded to-day. 

SATURDAY, MAY 7TH. 

I woke this morning just at daylight, probably aroused 
by the whizzing of a stray bullet now and then, and tak- 
ing an observation from the stump behind which I lay, 
and which stood about fifty feet in rear of the breast- 
works, I discovered that the pine trees in our front and 
just beyond the "slashing" were full of rebel sharpshoot- 
ers. This discovery very much surprised me, and disa- 
bused my mind of the impression given me the night be- 
fore that there were two lines of battle in our front, and 
as quietly as possible I got such of my men as were not 
already there, into the little trench close to the breastworks, 
and in the limited space allowed us wt oegan to boil our 
coffee. This was rather a ticklish business, for the rebels 
''had us down," as the situation is described in the army, 
that is, had the advantage of seeing, and the opportunity 
of shooting at, any head which might be raised above the 



38 

top log of the breastworks, a condition of things which 
seriously embarrassed us in gathering fuel for our little 
fires. As illustrative of the advantage which accrues to 
the side which has the other side "down," I may mention 
the following incident. One of my men named Michael 
Ryan, with more curiosity than discretion, looked over the 
top of the breastworks, thinking to locate a sharpshooter 
who was in a tree quite near us and was persistent in his 
attentions to any of us who was careless in exposing him- 
self. Hardly had Ryan's head reached the level of the log 
when the sharpshooter furrowed his cheek with a minie 
ball, and conferred upon him the distinction of being the 
second man in the company to be wounded. However, the 
shot had located the tree in which the rifle-man was perched, 
and borrowing a Springfield musket from one of my men, 
I crawled along the breastworks a little way, and taking 
off my hat poked the gun over the ten-inch pine log which 
topped the earthwork at that point, and gradually bringing 
the muzzle down in line with the tree, started to squint 
along the barrel for the chap in the butternut suit. Of 
course he saw the movement, and at once prepared for 
the head which he knew would appear at the breach of 
the gun, and before I could aim anywhere in his neigh- 
borhood, he sent a bullet into the log not three inches be- 
low my nose, and filled my eyes so full of pulverized pine 
bark that it took at least fifteen minutes to clear them out, 
and a much longer time than that to allay the smarting. 
It was a beautiful line shot, only a trifle low, and raised the 
man considerably in my estimation. When at length I had 
recovered my eyesight, I went a little further up the line 
where there was a green oak stake driven into the ground 
to support the logs which formed the inner wall of the 



39 

breastworks. This stake projected a little above the upper 
log but was not fastened to it, and being some nine inches 
thick at the top and six inches thick at the bottom, I thought 
I could with reasonable safety rest my gun on the log 
alongside of the stake, and, shielding my head behind its 
wide upper end, get a fair chance for a shot. Hardly had 
I commenced to put my scheme in execution, when a minie 
ball struck that stake just opposite my left cheek bone 
with such precision and force that the blow it communi- 
cated sent me sprawling to the ground, where, upon re- 
flection, I concluded that I did not want to kill such an 
excellent marksman and so returned the Springfield to 
its owner. 

Soon after daylight the enemy, who seemed to suspect 
that there were some batteries of artillery somewhere on 
that line, though why they did not know it for a fact I 
cannot imagine, as their sharpshooters must have seen them, 
began shelling the line to draw their fire and so unmask 
their exact location, and as the six-pound rifle shells came 
in a straight line towards us, we could see them in the air 
after we knew at just what elevation to expect them, and 
they looked very much like pigeons coming at us. Some 
struck outside the breastworks and some passed over our 
heads, but no damage was done except the killing of one 
artillery horse and the wounding of some men in other 
regiments in our rear, and as our artillerists withheld their 
fire the cannonade did not enlighten the rebels. Shortly 
after the firing ceased, with the well-known "rebel yell," 
the enemy came charging on us through the woods in a 
disordered mass, the trees having broken up anything like 
regular charging lines, and just as they were emerging 
from the timber and had nearly reached the "slashing" in 



40 

front of the breastworks, not more than forty yards from 
our Hnes, our batteries, composed of eighteen guns, I think, 
opened with grape and canister, and in less time than it 
takes to tell it, what there was left uninjured of that 
force disappeared in the dense woods and over the hill 
in the rear, while the wounded were hiding behind trees 
as best they could and the dead were scattered about in 
full view. 

About ten o'clock the 12th U. S. Infantry, starting 
from a point some distance to the left of my company, 
made a charge through the woods, but with what result 
I do not know. It was not, however, according to the 
notions of a volunteer, a very creditable affair so far as 
military formation and steadiness were concerned, for 
though all the men were going in the same general direc- 
tion, they were scattered like a mob and were apparently 
firing from their hips into the tops of the trees. 

Later in the day the 93rd Pennsylvania and the 2nd 
Michigan formed a line in a ravine in our rear prepara- 
tory to charging from our part of the works. This in- 
tended movement necessitated my drawing my company 
out of the ditch behind the breastworks, so that the charg- 
ing line might pass through and jump the breastworks. 
As my men were moving out from under cover to the rear, 
and I was backing away as they approached me, my ac- 
complished acquaintance of the early morning, who had 
stuck to his tree until this time, apparently drew another 
bead on me, for a shot came from his direction and passed 
through the top of the cap of one of my men named Bar- 
ber, who was directly in front of and very close to me. 



41 

His cap flew off and he dropped on one knee and raised 
his hand rather hesitatingly to the top of his head but, 
finding no blood nor any unusual depression there, he 
smiled rather a sickly smile, and rising to his feet stood 
up until all were ordered to lie down. Evidently my friend 
the enemy in the tree, did not at once grasp the significance 
of the movement on our side of the breastworks, for, as 
the picket line which preceded the changing line of the 
Pennsylvanians jumped the pine logs, he committed the 
indiscretion of shooting at one of them, thus attracting 
attention to his aerie, and almost instantly he came tumb- 
ling out of that tree as full of holes as a skimmer. After 
a time the charging troops returned, reporting that they 
had cleared out a very weakly-defended rifle-pit the hold- 
ing of which would have been of no advantage to us. 

At night we were relieved and ordered back to the wagon 
train, and moving out under fire we marched about six 
miles and overtook some of the artillery near Chancellors- 
ville at about two o'clock irt' the morning. It was pitch 
dark, and we halted in line along the side of a plank road 
and laid down and went to sleep. A brigade of infantry 
was lying fast asleep on the plank road, and sometime 
before daylight there was a great commotion in that line, 
caused by a series of most unearthly yells not unlike the 
''rebel yell" greatly intensified, and by many of the men 
suddenly awakening and jumping over a fence into a woods 
filled with underbrush and thus carrying consternation 
to those farther down the line. When the road was pretty 
well cleared of everything but guns and old shelter tents, 
the cause of the stampede in the shape of an enormous 
mule, came trotting along, braying with all its might, thus 



42 

illustrating for a second time the power and efficiency of 
the "jawbone of an ass." 

Saw classmate Capt. Van Marter with his cavalry drawn 
up beside a road on which we were marching. 

SUNDAY, MAY 8tH. 

Took up our line of march about five o'clock in the 
morning and overtook the artillery train at about four 
P. M. The day was hot and the roads very dusty, and we 
were obliged to tie handkerchiefs over our mouths and 
noses in order to breathe. Smoke from forest fires filled 
the air and added to the misery caused by the dust. 
Marched about seven miles. Companies D and H were 
detailed to guard the Headquarters train, which was then 
near the Nye River, and K and E were sent to guard the 
ammunition train of the Corps. The artillery and mus- 
ketry fire at 7 o'clock was very brisk, and was supposed to 
be near Spottsylvania Court House. In the evening Com- 
panies D and H were sent out on picket, and were marched 
about a good deal without any apparent object except ex- 
ercise. 

MONDAY, MAY QTH. 

It is reported this morning that General Butler has taken 
City Point and Petersburg, and that General Longstreet's 
corps has gone to Richmond, but we have learned to put 
very little faith in rumors. At half-past six P. M. heavy 
cannonading is heard in front. At two o'clock Head- 
quarters are moved back to the Chancellorsville and Fred- 
ericksburg plank road, and we are marched back two-and- 



43 

a-half miles. It is reported that General Sedgwick, com- 
manding the Sixth Corps, is killed. 

TUESDAY^ MAY lOTH. 

Heavy cannonading from 8 A. M. to i P. M. The Pon- 
toon train has been sent back to Fredericksburg, appar- 
ently to get it out of the way, and the army horses are put 
on half-rations, that is, five pounds of food. Ambulances 
and army wagons with two tiers of flooring, loaded with 
wounded and drawn by four and six mule teams, pass 
along the plank, or, rather, corduroy road to Fredericks- 
burg, the teamsters lashing their teams to keep up with 
the train, and the wounded screaming with pain as the 
wagons go jolting over the corduroy. Many of the wounds 
are full of maggots. I saw one man with an arm off at the 
shoulder, with maggots half an inch long crawling in the 
sloughing flesh, and several poor fellows were holding 
stumps of legs and arms straight up in the air so as to ease 
the pain the rough road and the heartless drivers subjected 
them to. These men had been suffering in temporary field 
hospitals, as no opportunity had been afforded to send them 
to the rear until we got within reach of the road running 
to Fredericksburg. 

And this reminds me of a scene I witnessed a day or two 
since which seemed to me to cap the climax of the horrors 
of war. Passing along a little in the rear of the lines when 
a battle was raging in which my battalion was not en- 
gaged, I came upon a field-hospital to which the stretcher- 
bearers were bringing the men wounded in the conflict. 
Under three large "tent flies," the center one the largest of 
all, stood three heavy wooden tables around which were 
grouped a number of surgeons and their assistants, the for- 



44 

mer bare-headed and clad in long linen dusters reaching 
nearly to the ground, which were covered with blood from 
top to bottom and had the arms cut off or rolled to the 
shoulders. The stretcher-bearers deposited their ghastly 
freight side by side in a winrow on the ground 
in front of the table under the first tent fly. 
Here a number of assistants took charge of the poor 
fellows, and as some of them lifted a man on to 
the first table others moved up the winrow so that no 
time nor space should be lost. Then some of the surgeons 
administered an anaesthetic to the groaning and writhing 
patient, exposed his wound and passed him to the center 
table. There the surgeons who were operating made a 
hasty examination and determined what was to be done 
and did it, and more often than not, in a very few moments 
an arm or a leg or some other portion of the subject's 
anatomy was flung out upon a pile of similar fragments 
behind the hospital, which was then more than six feet 
wide and three feet high, and what remained of the man 
was passed to the third table, where other surgeons fin- 
ished the bandaging, resuscitated him and posted him off 
with others in an ambulance. Heaven forbid that I should 
ever again witness such a sight ! 

An attack on our right for the purpose of capturing the 
wagon train is anticipated, and we make dispositions of 
troops accordingly. Later the attack was made and re- 
pulsed. We learn that a force of cavalry has been sent 
out to cut the rebel communications with Gordonsville. 

WEDNESDAY, MAY IITH. 

Slept on our arms all night, but everything was com- 
paratively quiet. It looks very much like rain this morn- 



45 

ing. Hear a report that rebels have been flanked and two 
thousand prisoners and twelve guns captured, but the re- 
port proves to be without foundation. Hear nothing from 
the cavalry. A thunderstorm came on about 4 P. M., the 
first rain since we left Culpepper Court House. Reported 
that the Twenty-second Corps is on the way to join this 
army. Started towards Fredericksburg in the afternoon and 
marched all night in the mud, many of the men falling out 
of the ranks by the way. Very little cannonading during 
the day. 

THURSDAY, MAY I2TH. 

Reached the vicinity of Tabernacle Church at about five 
o'clock A. M.;, where a ration of fresh beef was issued, 
and the men who had dropped out during the night came 
straggling in. Saw a force of cavalry a little way off, with 
uniforms literally covered with yellow braid, and learned 
that it had just come from Rhode Island to join General 
Burnside's Ninth Corps, and is known as Burnside's But- 
terfly Cavalry. Left the church at 11 A. M. and going 
to the front reported to General Warren. On the way 
passed the 3rd Penn. Artillery, which we left at Fort Marcy 
in March. The Second Corps took several thousand pris- 
oners and nineteen guns to-day. The rebel General John- 
son and another general officer, who were captured in 
Barlow's charge, passed through our line in an ambu- 
lance and looked madder than wet hens. And well they 
might, for it rained all day, thus adding to the bedraggled 
appearance of the captives. Many of the captured guns 
were parked near us, and for a time we were formed in 
line near them to repel any effort to recapture them. We 
have little idea where we are or what is going on about us. 



46 

It was reported that the cavalry sent out to cut the rebel 
communication with Gordonsville, had destroyed eight 
miles of railroad and two trains of cars, and had taken 
about five hundred prisoners. All told we marched about 
twelve miles to-day. 

FRIDAY, MAY I3TH. 

There was very little cannonading to-day, and though 
there was nothing like a general engagement, there was 
occasional brisk musketry. Cos. E and K joined the bat- 
talion and we were moved up to the extreme front. Both 
armies seemed to be moving and on nearly parallel lines. 
After marching about two miles we found that a flank 
movement to the left was being made, and starting at about 
9 o'clock P. M., in company with the artillery batteries, 
we marched pretty much all night. The rain for the past 
few days, and which was still pouring down, had con- 
verted the light Virginia soil into a sea of mud, and the 
wheels of the guns, caissons, ammunition wagons, etc., 
sank to the hubs, but by putting our shoulders to the 
wheels in aid of the horses and mules and artillerymen, 
we managed to accomplish about two miles during the 
night. The whole Corps was in motion on our right. We 
hear that the 126th has been badly cut up. 

SATURDAY, MAY I4TH. 

About 9 o'clock in the morning we came up with Burn- 
side's Ninth Corps in full sight of Spottsylvania Court 
House. During the day the artillery was gotten into posi- 
tion, and at about 7 o'clock P. M. there was some brilliant 
cannonading by both sides. We were moved up to the 



47 

rear of the Artillery Brigade near the Nye River, where 
private Collins was wounded, and remained all night wait- 
ing for orders to camp, burrowing in the mud and sleep- 
ing under sheets of water, but no such or4ers came. We 
traveled about six miles to-day. 

SUNDAY, MAY I5TH. 

spent the day building breastworks and strengthening 
our position. About lo o'clock A. M. a rebel battery 
opened on our center, but ceased firing after a little and 
everything remained quiet. A thunderstorm came up in 
the afternoon, but was comparatively brief. Capt. Gould 
and I took a bath in the Nye River, and many of our men 
followed our example. 

MONDAY, MAY i6tH. 

The day opened with a dense fog, but it cleared off about 
9 o'clock and I visited an old house in our rear belonging 
to a man named Gaul, or some such name. Quiet all day. 

TUESDAY, MAY I7TH. 

An order was received to-day reducing all batteries of 
artillery from six to four guns. The day was quiet, but 
from the dispositions being made it was apparent that a 
battle was anticipated. A rumor was current that the 
Rebs had four twenty-pound guns covering our front. 

WEDNESDAY, MAY i8tH. 

Our battalion was temporarily assigned to Col. J. How- 
ard Kitching's Brigade of the Reserve Artillery to-day, 
which lay along the Fredericksburg road, and at daylight 



48 

we moved to join it, marching to a point near a house 
called the Harris House, I think. Very soon after our 
arrival artillery and musketry opened on the right of our 
army, and it was rumored that in a charge made by the 
Second Corps, a line of rifle-pits were taken and substan- 
tial earthworks unmasked behind them. We are all the 
time hearing about successful movements by the Second 
Corps. At night we counter-marched about five miles and 
camped near our last camp ground. 

THURSDAY, MAY I9TH. 

We were moved toward the right and rear of the army 
to-day, where we started to make camp and began to re- 
ceive rations, but soon Cos. D and K were sent out on 
picket on a line nearly at right angles with the right of 
the army, and running back diagonally almost to the Fred- 
ericksburg road. About four o'clock P. M. my company, 
H, was sent out to relieve Co. D, which held the extreme 
right of the picket line. On arriving on the ground I found 
the line formed very much like a fish hook, and began es- 
tablishing my picket posts, that furthest to the left in an 
open field, being near the extreme right one of Capt. Gould's 
Co. K. I put Lieut. Edmonston in charge of that end of 
the line and Lieut. Carpenter in charge of the center, and 
posted the remaining men in squads along toward the right 
and into some woods. While this disposition was being 
made, I heard some scattering shots down toward the left. 
Leaving First Sergt. Theben in charge of the detachment 
on the right, I ran across the curve of the fish hook through 
the woods towards the center of my line, but before I 
reached it I saw a rebel picket line advancing across an 



49 

open field in our front, and just behind it two lines of battle 
closely massed, with flags flying and officers on horseback, 
emerging from the woods in the rear of the field, but with 
their flanks so masked in woods on either side of the field 
that I could not see how far they extended. It was a magnifi- 
cent sight, for the lines moved as steadily as if on parade, 
and if ever I longed for a battery of artillery with guns shot- 
ted with grape and canister, and my own men behind those 
guns, it was then and there, for I do not think the lines 
were more than two or three hundred yards from where 
I stood. There was a piece of swampy ground in their 
front, which I knew would most likely break up their regu- 
lar formation and delay them a little, but I feared that 
their left flank, which I could not see, might extend so 
far to their left that it would overlap my right and give me 
trouble in the rear. However, it was no time to hesitate, 
and I determined to withdraw the center of my line slowly, 
firing as we fell back, keeping in touch with Company K, 
and straightening out my fish hook as far to my right as I 
could, all in the hope that we might hold the "Johnnies" 
until troops attracted by the noise we made should come 
to our assistance. By the time I reached his position in 
the center, Lieut. Carpenter, who had taken in the situa- 
tion, was deploying the picket posts into line, as Lieut. 
Edmonston was also doing on the left, and both had given 
the order to commence firing. Giving orders for a slow 
and stubborn withdrawal of the line, I ran over to the 
right and deployed that flank also, and on returning to the 
open field I found the enemy struggling through the swamp 
and our boys peppering them as fast as they could load 
and fire, some lying down and some firing from behind 
stumps or from any other point offering the slightest pro- 



50 

tection. Looking down to the left near an old house, I 
thought I saw one of our officers, a short and stout young 
fellow, being escorted toward the enemy's lines by two 
rebel pickets, and I extended a mental farewell to Edmon- 
ston, but later in the day was rejoiced to find that I was 
mistaken in the identity of the prisoner. As we reached 
the woods in our rear we fought back from tree to tree, 
endeavoring to hold the charging lines in the open field 
as long as possible, and we actually did hold them for 
three-quarters of an hour. 

The enemy returned our fire very sharply, and in the 
midst of the excitement a big yellow dog, belonging to 
some one in the regiment, came out on the field and began 
to snap at and run after the ''zips" made by passing bul- 
lets, his ears and tail up, and his whole appearance indi- 
cating the intensest interest in his pursuit of the imaginary 
birds. Suddenly one of the "birds" took off the end of 
his tail and down went his ears and the rest of his tail, 
and with intermittent but emphatic "ki-yis", he went to the 
rear like a yellow streak. 

By the time we had fallen back into the timber it was 
getting late in the afternoon and the shadows were gath- 
ering in the woods. The left flank of the enemy had 
lapped my right, as I had feared it might, and meeting no 
resistance as they reached the Fredericksburg road, the 
Rebs were climbing into the wagons, a train of which was on 
the road bringing up supplies, and the teamsters, or many 
of them, having cut their teams loose, were rushing through 
the woods in all directions. How far the main rebel lines 
had advanced into the woods at that point I do not know, 
but just as I began to fear that Co. H was going to be 
surrounded, a force of Union troops, probably a regiment, 



51 

came charging through the woods parallel with the line 
of battle and caused great confusion among my men. 
Fortunately the Colonel passed near me and inquired 
where he could best go in, and I wheeled him at once to 
the left, and in less than two minutes there was the noisiest 
kind of a mix-up. Almost immediately another line of 
battle passed through us on the double-quick, this one 
going in the right direction, and some of my own men 
joined this line and went in with it. Volley after volley 
was discharged by each side, and the fighting was kept up 
until darkness settled down, when the rebels quietly with- 
drew under cover of it. My ''bodyguard/' Lynch fol- 
lowed me about in the woods while I was trying to collect 
my men after the charges through us had scattered them, 
and was incessantly calling my attention to the shots which 
were striking the trees or whistling by between them, and 
I was finally obliged to order him to the rear, though I 
could not but appreciate his kindly anxiety for my personal 
safety. After the firing ceased I got a few of my men to- 
gether, and while looking around for a place where we could 
safely lie down and go to sleep, I came upon my Quarter- 
master Sergt. Elijah F. Lock, a quiet, determined fellow, 
with two or three other men standing under a large pine 
tree. Telling him to "fall in" I was about to pass on when 
he said, "Captain, there's a rebel sharpshooter up this tree, 
and just before dark I saw him shoot a major off his horse 
while that officer's line was passing under the tree, and I 
am going to get him." Many sharpshooters had climbed 
trees as soon as the Rebs entered the woods, and when 
their troops were driven back these men were left on their 
perches and annoyed us not a little, so, telling Lock that 
he had my best wishes for his success, I passed on and 



52 

with my squad was soon asleep in a convenient little hol- 
low. 



FRIDAY, MAY 20TH. 

At daylight this morning I was informed that Sergt. 
Lock "got" his sharpshooter last night, but that the man 
was of no use to himself or anybody else after the Ser- 
geant's attentions. Getting my little squad in line, we 
moved by the flank in rather "open order" through the 
woods and across the fields to the camp which we had left 
the day before, where I found that many of my men had 
preceded me during the night. Lynch was most demonstra- 
tive in his welcome, announcing in stentorian tones that 
the Captain was not "kilted after all." Upon mustering the 
Company for roll-call, I found that we had suffered se- 
verely, Sergt. Judson A. Smith, Artificer Gould R. Bene- 
dict and privates Joseph Housel, Jr. and William R. Mead 
having been killed, and First Sergt. Theben, Corp. Harned 
and privates Abbey, Adams, Brockelbank, Butler, Bullock, 
Cole, Phelps, Allen R. Smith, Sanford and Lyke, wounded, 
while Sergt. David B. Jones and privates Asa Smith and 
Charles M. Struble were missing. The day was spent car- 
ing for the wounded, burying the dead, our own as well 
as those of the enemy, and throwing up a line of rifle-pits 
where we were engaged the day before. Trenches were dug 
in the light soil some six feet wide and two or three feet 
deep, and the dead were laid side by side with no winding 
sheets but overcoats or blankets, though occasionally an 
empty box which had contained Springfield rifles did duty 
as a coffin. Care was taken to cover the faces of the dead 
with the capes of their overcoats or with blankets, and 



53 

where the name, company, regiment, division or corps 
could be ascertained, the information was written in pencil 
on a board or smoothly whittled piece of wood, which was 
driven into the earth at the man's head, and the grounds 
about the Harris House presented the appearance of a 
cemetery. I particularly noticed among the rebel dead a 
handsome boy of perhaps eighteen years, who, though clad 
in the dirty butternut-colored uniform of a private, showed 
every indication of gentle birth and refined home surround" 
ings. His hands and feet were small and delicately 
moulded ; his skin white and soft as a woman's, and his 
hair, where not matted by the blood from a cruel wound in 
the forehead, was fair and wavy as silk, and as I thought 
of the desolate home somewhere in the South, thus robbed 
of its pride and its joy, and of the loving mother who 
would never know where her darling was laid, tears actu- 
ally came to my eyes, and I turned away leaving the poor 
boy to find a resting place at the hands of a burial party of 
a not ungenerous foe. 

Later in the day, as Sergeant Jones did not report to 
camp, I went out on the field and opened the heads of a 
number of graves where there were no names, or where the 
identification of the occupant on the boards or stakes was 
incomplete, but was unable to find his body. 

We learned to-day that the force which attacked us 
yesterday was Gen'l Ewell's Corps, and that the repulse 
which it met was a signal one. 

Such was the battle of Pine Grove or Harris Farm as it 
was called, so far as I personally saw or had anything to do 
with it, but in Gen'l Meade's congratulatory order on the 
result, our battalion was not even mentioned though it lost 
seventy-four men. 



54 

SATURDAY^ MAY 2 1 ST. 

We broke camp list night and marched all night with 
the Fifth Corps batteries of Artillery, Co. H in the lead, 
passing through Guinia's Station to-day, crossing the 
Mattapony River at Downer's bridge and halting near a 
house in a cornfield. The men were thoroughly tired out 
and as hungry as bears, having had nothing to eat on the 
long march of twenty-five miles. While on the march I 
observed some horsemen in the distance, flitting about in 
the woods to our left and front, and suspecting that they 
might belong to the enemy, I halted the column and sent 
Corporal Richard E. Rhodes forward to reconnoiter. 
Rhodes was a splendid, plucky little fellow, and as he went 
straight for the woods I stood watching him with a good 
deal of anxiety, having prepared to throw the company 
into line and follow him in case of any hostile demonstra- 
tion. Scarcely had he covered two-thirds of the distance 
when a single horseman rode out to meet him, and in a 
few moments he rejoined us and reported that the men we 
had seen belonged to a detachment of our own cavalry, 
sent out, without notice to us, to picket our line of march. 
Starting on again with lighter hearts if not more elastic 
steps, we reached the cornfield, stacked arms and lay down 
among the little corn-hills to rest. 

SUNDAY, MAY 22D. 

At one o'clock in the morning we were ordered back over 
the road upon which we had advanced the day before, and 
after marching some distance were halted until 4 o'clock 
P. M., and then sent to Bowling Green, where we camped 
near Harrison's stores. The distance traveled was not far 



55 

from six miles, but why we were kept moving about in this 
way no one seemed to know, 

MONDAY, MAY 23D. 

At 5 o'clock A. M. we joined the wagon train as a 
guard, and marched about twelve miles to Mt. Carmel 
Church, where we arrived at half-past eleven and were 
permitted to halt and boil our coffee. The Second Corps 
passed to our left and the Fifth Corps to our right, and 
with the latter Corps we crossed the North Anna River, 
and in a short time skirmishing commenced and a battle 
opened vigorously at about 5 o'clock, which lasted some 
two hours. We understand that Gen'l Hill's rebel Corps 
is in our front. The night was spent digging rifle pits 
and getting our troops into position. 

TUESDAY, MAY 24TH. 

It was comparatively quiet in our immediate front to- 
day, but there was heavy cannonading to our left, which 
is in the direction of Hanover Junction where the Second 
Corps is supposed to be. All hands took the opportunity 
to "police" themselves by taking a bath in the North Anna 
River. Our troops were reported to be in possession of 
the railroad this side of the Junction. We are picking up 
many straglers and deserters from the enemy who tell us 
all sorts of tales. Some say that they have nothing to eat ; 
that all Lee's men are tired of the war, and that whole 
brigades would come into our lines but for the fact that 
the men have been told that they would have to take the 
oath and serve for three years in our army. Others say 
that the "Johnies" have more than they can eat and will 



56 

fight forever. All seem to have a great fear of negro 
soldiers, and the first Reb. we captured in the Wilderness 
was perfectly wild until we assured him that "Burnside's 
niggers" were really harmless unless stirred up with a 
sharp stick. The churches in this country have no 
steeples; are entirely unpainted and stand many miles 
apart at cross-roads, looking very much like deserted coun- 
try school houses at the north. 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 25TH. 

At seven this morning Kitchings Brigade moved off 
toward the left, while our Battalion was sent to the right. 
Lively skirmishing occurred in our front, and at half-past 
three o'clock there was some artillery firing on our left, 
but there was very little close fighting. The cavalry came in 
from a raid, and it was rumored that the Sixth Corps had 
torn up the railroad track from Hanover Junction to 
Gordonsville. Towards night we were drawn in and sent 
out on picket along the North Anna. 

THURSDAY, MAY 26tH. 

The morning was rainy and disagreeable, and we spent 
the day building breast-works along the picket line. While 
so engaged some cavalry under command of Gen'l Wilson, 
as we were informed, passed out through our line, and 1 
had the pleasure of a brief chat with my friend Capt. Jim 
McNair, whom I last saw at Culpepper, while his company 
was passing through my lines. He was fat as a porpoise 
and rode a big black horse which looked to be in as fine 
condition as its rider. We were relieved from picket at 
six o'clock P. M. and joining the Brigade, re-crossed the 



57 

North Anna and in mud knee-deep marched back to Mt. 
Carmel Church, which we reached about one o'clock. It 
was utterly impossible to keep the men in line, and I had 
but sixteen of my company with me when we halted. 

FRIDAY, MAY 27TH. 

On reaching the Church fires were built and rations is- 
sued, and gradually the men left behind came straggling 
in, covered, like ourselves, with mud and wet to the skin. 
While trying to dry out and make ourselves reasonably 
comfortable under the circumstances, our morning naps 
were disturbed by rumors of another change of base and 
an impending long march. We were not actually routed 
out, however, until 9 o'clock A. M., when we formed line 
and marched steadily until 12 o'clock at night, covering 
twenty-five miles, but losing from the ranks more than 
two-thirds of the men, who fell out from sheer exhaustion 
but joined us later. 



SATURDAY, MAY 28tH. 

Started at 9 o'clock in the morning and marched all day, 
passing many attractive looking places, the plantation of 
John Carroll among others, and after making about twenty 
miles halted to boil coffee, but were ordered to cross the 
Pamunkey river, and did so at 5 o'clock at Old Ferry and 
camped on the heights beyond. During the day we came 
upon a Commissary, and those of us who could afford the 
luxury supplemented our usual and limited rations of 
hard-tack, brown sugar and coffee, with something equally 
bad but different in kind. 



58 

SUNDAY, MAY 29TH. 

Moved from Headquarters into the woods and camped 
until after noon, when the Brigade, under Col. Kitching, 
moved to the front. In about two hours orders came for the 
Second Battalion to join the Third Battalion of our regi- 
ment in the Second Corps, and we did so, and in a short 
time both battalions went out with the Second Corps 
batteries about eight miles towards Mechanicsville and 
halted for the night. 

MONDAY, MAY 3OTH. 

The artillery and our battalions advanced at 4 o'clock 
A. M., something like half a mile to a point near Toto- 
potomoy creek, where we stacked arms in a road and a 
cornfield of fifty acres, or thereabouts, and threw up earth- 
works for the artillery within two or three hundred yards 
of the enemy's line under a galling fire of musketry. The 
rebels in our front were busily at work also building earth- 
works, and at noon they opened a brisk artillery fire. Im- 
mediately in the rear of my company as it was at work on 
the breast- works, stood a fine large brick or stone house 
with a slate roof, known as the Shelton House, which was 
said to belong to a rebel Colonel then in the works, in 
front of us, and was occupied by some ladies of his family, 
who had, however, very properly taken refuge in the cellar. 
Between our works and the house, which stood with its 
rear towards us, was a semi-circle of negro quarters, and 
in front of these little frame and log houses the artillery- 
men had backed up their caissons and ammunition wagons 
to conceal them as much as possible from the enemy. At 
the door of one of these cabins was a large pile of ashes, 



59 

where the old "mammy" who lived there had emptied the 
contents of her stove for years, and as the men took out 
the ammunition from the chest on a limber, considerable 
powder was sprinkled on this dumping ground. Not long 
after the rebels had commenced firing, and after they had 
sent several rifled projectiles through the main house and 
its roof, and had split some of the great trees standing 
close by, the old darkey woman came to her door, cool as 
a cucumber, and apparently oblivious of the danger of her 
act, threw a shovel full of hot ashes and coals just out of 
her stove squarely under the limber, and instantly the 
front of that shanty was taken off as cleanly as if cut 
down by a monster hay-knife. Two men were killed and 
several wounded, but the negress is said to have escaped 
unhurt. A tremendous cheer at once rang out from the 
rebel line, the occupants of which no doubt supposed that 
the explosion of the limber chest had been caused by one 
of their shells. After getting our guns in position we 
opened on them, and the cannonading was vigorously kept 
up all along the line until dark. Co. D., Capt. Jones, was 
to-day detailed to man a Coehorn Mortar Battery. 

TUESDAY, MAY 3 1 ST. 

We remained in the intrenchments all night while 
picket firing was going on, and in the morning the infantry 
made a charge and found the first line of the enemy's 
works abandoned and took quite a number of prisoners. 
Our batteries were pushed forward to a line they had 
abandoned yesterday, and shelled the woods ia all direc- 
tions, and a skirmish line of infantry having been deployed 
to the front and left and found the rebels, a successful 
charge was made. The First Battalion of our regiment 



6o 

left the Sixth Corps and joined us to-day. Lieutenant 
Edmonston was sent forward with thirty of my men at lO 
o'clock P. M., and threw up some breast- works near the 
rebel line, which opened fire upon him and he was ordered 
to fall back. Privates Gay and Shortsleeves of my com- 
pany were wounded to-day. 

Our regiment is again united and in the Second Corps, 
and rumors are rife that we are to have a Siege train or 
else be sent back to the defenses of Washington. We have 
been so constantly on the move, and so frequently trans- 
ferred from one command to another, that the baggage 
wagon which is supposed to be transporting the effects of 
the battalion has never reached us, and I have not seen 
my satchel since we left Culpepper. The consequence is 
that during the nearly four weeks that have intervened, 
my linen collar has sloughed off and I have had no oppor- 
tunity whatever to secure a change of clothing. I have had 
but two baths during that entire period, and my only 
*Vash days" for clothing have been on those two occa- 
sions, when, as may be suspected, my garments had become 
a little soiled, and after scrubbing them diligently with 
sand and water, I hung them on the bushes to dry while 
I was attending to my personal ablutions. And yet my 
condition compares very favorably with that of my men, 
for dirt is the least of their troubles, as is apparent when, 
clad only in their skins, they seek such shade as they can 
find and "police" their shirts and trousers with their thumb 
nails. 

I arrested a negro to-day on the picket-line and sent him 
to Headquarters as a suspected spy. He was far too in- 
telligent about military matters to be allowed to run about 
and quite likely cross from one line to the other. He took 



6i 

a great fancy to my pocket knife and offered me $20 in 
Confederate currency for it, but would not take green- 
backs at any figure for some Confederate shin-plasters 
which I wanted as souvenirs, the first case of the kind 
that I have met. 

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1ST. 

At ID A. M. the enemy charged their own rifle pits sup- 
posing that we still held them, but our troops had left 
there at 2 A. M., and when the "J^^^^i^s" advanced on 
the line held by our regiment and the artillery, we soon 
scattered them. Heavy firing was heard on the left, and 
it was reported that the Sixth Corps, and the Eighteenth 
under General ''Baldy" Smith, were engaged. We left the 
vicinity of the Shelton House at dusk and marched about 
five miles to the left, crossing a ravine which we under- 
stood was called Gaine's Mills, and halted for rest at 12 
o'clock midnight. 

THURSDAY, JUNE 2ND. 

We were aroused at 4 A. M., and after taking our hard 
tack and coffee, moved off toward Cold Harbor. We 
passed many prisoners who were being taken to the rear, 
and learned that the Sixth Corps was nearly whipped yes- 
terday when ''Baldy" Smith with his Eighteenth Corps 
came to its assistance. Heavy firing was heard on the 
right to-day, but what the occasion was we did not know. 
Marched five miles and camped some little distance in the 
rear of the lines, but in plain sight and not far from the 
old house and the little building which covered its well at 
Cold Harbor. Shells and solid shot from artillery were 



62 

constantly dropping about us, and while I lay in my 
shelter tent a little six pound conical shot, almost spent, 
came ricocheting along the ground and actually struck 
the canvas by my side and quietly rolled off. 

FRIDAY, JUNE 3D. 

At half-past 4 A. M., after a rainy night, our artillery on 
the left opened fire, and the cannonading gradually ex- 
tended to the right, and at about 6 o'clock became simply 
terrific all along the line. A charge upon the enemy's 
work's followed, made by troops of two or three of the 
corps at least, and it was reported that two rebel lines were 
carried and eighteen guns and many prisoners taken, but 
that being flanked by artillery our troops could not hold 
their position and were compelled to retire, abandoning 
the guns and leaving many wounded on the field. The 
prisoners taken and brought off were a tough looking lot, 
but they were better clothed, better shod and had more 
rations in their haversacks than any we have heretofore 
captured during the campaign. Our regiment was not 
actually in the charge, but in the afternoon we were moved 
up to the breast-works, which, along a part of the line, 
were simply a broad ridge of earth with a ditch on each 
side, the Union troops being on one side and the Con- 
federates on the other, and the soldiers on neither side 
dared show their heads above the ridge. Immediately in 
the rear of the intrenchments, the earth was full of little 
excavations two or three feet deep, over which shelter 
tents were pitched so that the occupants could sleep, when 
opportunity offered, without danger of being hit by the 
bullets which often traversed the surface of the ground 
both day and night. These residences were called "gopher 



e)3 

holes," and, as might be supposed, were very popular with 
the soldiers no matter what their rank might be. After 
cutting abattis for the breast-works until dark, I was, 
during the night, ordered to take a detail from my com- 
pany, and, with other details from our regiment, go and 
assist in building a redoubt for artillery on General Bar- 
low's front close up to the rebel lines. My instructions 
were most vague and unsatisfactory, and as I knew noth- 
ing about the lay of the land, I reported at once to General 
Barlow's headquarters, which consisted of a wall tent with 
a sentry and a Division flag in front of it. I found the 
General curled up in the corner of his tent examining a 
map with a candle, but on learning that I wanted a guide 
he sent a staff officer with me to point out the way. I do 
not think this officer knew any more about the location of 
the lines than I did, for he lead us around in an aimless 
way, and at length brought us up behind a battery of 
artillery posted in the second line, where I halted the com- 
pany to inquire of the officer in command of the battery 
whether he knew what was required of me. It was pitch 
dark, and suddenly one of those unaccountable fusillades 
occurred, so frequently started by somebody firing a gun 
on one side or the other in the night time, and the artillery 
on both sides promptly joined in the melee. The enemy 
seemed to have the range of this particular battery per- 
fectly, and made our position so hot that I took the com- 
pany away from the rear of it by the right flank at "double 
quick," fortunately not losing a man except my guide, 
whom I never saw again. The commander of the battery 
had indicated to me where he thought I ought to go, which 
was across a ravine almost immediately in his front, and 
after the firing had ceased I reached the ground and with 



64 

the other details built the redoubt. We had to cut the 
necessary logs in the ravine and carry them up the side 
hill, and the almost incessant musketry fire, and the sharp- 
shooter's fire as it grew lighter, seriously impeded the 
work. Occasionally there would be paroxysms of artillery 
firing, when we would have to suspend altogether and seek 
the best shelter we could find, and on one of these occa- 
sions Capt. Gould and I met in a washout or gully near by, 
made by some previous rainstorm in the light sandy soil, 
which was hardly large enough for two, and we had a 
good-natured argument as to which ranked the other in 
the right to possession. After the work was sufficiently 
advanced to afford some protection from the rebel fire, we 
were subjected to danger from our own people, for the 
battery in our second line of which I have spoken, opened 
fire two or three times on the rebel line beyond us, and 
sent its shot and shell screeching uncomfortably close to 
our heads, some of the latter exploding rather short and 
sending fragments and encased iron balls into our re- 
doubt. And yet it was a beautiful sight to see the lines of 
fire in the darkness caused by the burning fuses of the 
shells when coming towards us, followed by brilliant ex- 
plosions, the whole exhibition resembling very closely that 
made by sky-rockets at a Fourth of July celebration. Dur- 
ing the night Gen'l Barlow visited our little fort, crawling 
in over the exposed ground on his hands and knees, and 
upon his asking how we had got in there, we answered 
''just as you did." 

SATURDAY^ JUNE 4TH. 

Morning found us still at work on the redoubt, and 
after finishing that and assisting in building other earth- 



6s 

works rendered necessary because the enemy's sharp- 
shooters prevented our using that one by picking off our 
cannoneers, I went to turn over to Lieut. Hamlink, our 
Battalion Adjutant, the shovels, axes and pick-axes with 
which we had been at work. The sharpshooters were 
very troublesome at that point also, and their missiles were 
constantly singing about our ears. Hamlink, rather osten- 
tatiously as I thought, sat down upon a stump to count 
the tools while I stood just inside the end of a breast-work, 
and on my cautioning him that he was unnecessarily ex- 
posing himself, he replied, a little contemptuously, '*Oh! 
the bullet isn't run that is to hit me." Scarcely were the 
words out of his mouth when a ball furrowed his cheek 
and barked his shoulder, thus contradicting his assertion, 
and he hurriedly left me to turn over my tools to some- 
body else. Shortly after this incident two men just to my 
left, who were incautiously looking over the breastworks, 
were shot in the face. One was killed instantly, and 
though the other received the ball between the eyes, it 
traversed his skull over the top of his head and beneath his 
scalp, and made its exit at the back of his neck, stunning 
him at first but not seriously interfering with his going to 
hospital without assistance five minutes afterwards. 

About I P. M. my company returned to its gopher-hole 
camp and was permitted to remain there for the rest of 
the day making up for lost sleep. 

SUNDAY, JUNE 5TH. 

Under sharpshooters' fire all day, but none of my men 
was hit. The body of Col. Porter, of the Sixth N. Y. 
Heavy Artillery, who was killed on the 3rd, was recov- 
ered to-day, as were the bodies of several other officers 



66 

and men. A charge was made upon us by the enemy but 
it was easily repulsed, and later my company was sent to 
build more breastworks on other parts of our line. 

MONDAY, JUNE 6tH. 

Occupied the intrenchments all day. Considerable picket- 
firing was going on but no serious movement was made 
by either side. We heard the rebel bands playing very 
distinctly. 

TUESDAY, JUNE 7TH. 

There was a good deal of desultory musketry last night, 
but the day was quiet, each side apparently watching the 
other. A flag of truce was sent out and the body of Col. 
McMahon, of the 164th N. Y., among others killed on the 
3rd, was recovered. His features were not recognizable, 
his pockets were rifled and the buttons were cut from his 
uniform. 

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8tH. 

Discovered to my consternation that I was actually 
lousy. Lieut. Edmonston, whom I call "the Sheriff," he 
having been a deputy sheriff of Ontario County, one of the 
neatest men I ever knew, indignantly repelled the insin- 
uation as to himself when inquired of, and I turned the 
company over to him and went to the rear two or three 
miles to the hospital, and procured some camphor gum 
to hang in little bags about my neck and shoulders, 
and some mercurial ointment with which to ''po- 
lice" the seams of my clothing. On my return I saw 
that the gopher-hole tent which he and I occupied 



67 

was closed, and creeping up quietly to the back 
of it, and peeping through the opening where the 
ridge-pole protruded, I saw "the Sheriff" sitting on the 
ground, naked as the day he was born, going up and 
down the seams of his trousers and diligently crushing 
the inhabitants and their eggs with the backs of his thumb 
nails. I could not but laugh heartily, but he saw no fun in 
the situation and kept on with his work until I divided 
my ''hospital stores" with him. It had been quiet all day, 
but about 7 o'clock P. M. artillery fire was opened very 
briskly. Later Edmonston, with a detail from the com- 
pany, was sent out to clear a way to the rear for the with- 
drawal of the artillery. 

THURSDAY^ JUNE QTH. 

After being out all night ''the Sheriff" was relieved 
and reported at camp about 8 o'clock this morning. All 
was quiet along the lines to-day, and an extra ration of 
pork, beans and cabbage was issued to the men by the 
Sanitary Commission, which was most gratefully received. 
The provisioning of an army is no small matter, but it 
does seem as if better food, or at least more of it, could 
be supplied by the department in charge. Sometimes our 
men have had practically nothing to eat for twenty-four 
hours, and I have actually seen them pick up ribs and 
other very stale bones left where cattle have been slaugh- 
tered, and roast them in their little coffee-boiling fires and 
gnaw them as they resumed the march. It was no very 
unusual thing to see hardtack crackers bought by the men 
from each other at twenty-five cents apiece, and I have 
known a man whose pay was $13 per month to offer a 
dollar for one. 



68 

For the first time since May 4th my satchel was brought 
to me to-day, and I was able to indulge in the luxury of a 
comparatively clean shirt and suit of underclothing, but 
that exhausts my wardrobe, for the garments removed 
were so ragged and infested with "gray-backs" that I 
burned them all at once, trusting to luck some time to run 
across a Quartermaster's train. 

Notwithstanding the rough experiences which the war 
entails, there are occasional incidents which save us from 
altogether losing confidence in human nature. For in- 
stance, to-day at a point where the picket lines were not 
more than fifteen yards apart, the men on these lines agreed 
not to fire upon each other and at once got out of their bur- 
rows, exchanged papers, traded knives, tobacco and coffee 
and discussed politics, it being generally agreed among them 
that if a few men on both sides who stayed at home were 
hung, matters could be easily arranged. So many men 
got together that the rebel officers, fearing demoraliza- 
tion, ordered the firing to commence again, and the "John- 
nies" sung out, "get into your holes, Yanks, we are going 
to fire," and when the incredulous "Yanks" moved very 
deliberately, the "Johnnies" actually fired over their heads 
to give them time to hide. Our pickets often hear those 
on the other side discussing the advisabiHty of coming 
into our lines and surrendering in the night time, and 
every night some of them come in, and yet when it comes 
to fighting, one would not suppose that any of them had 
the faintest idea of surrendering. It is currently reported 
that each side is driving mines under the field-works of 
the other, and that pretty soon somebody will be blown 
up, but no one seems to have any definite information on 
the subject. Lieut. Vanderpoel reported for duty with 



69 

my company, I having had but one lieutenant since Lieut. 
Clark was detailed to Co. E. 

FRIDAY, JUNE lOTH. 

The rebels shelled the Coehorn Mortar Battery manned 
by Capt. Jones' Co. D to-day, but did no damage. Cloth- 
ing and more rations were issued, and it looks as if prep- 
arations are being made for another "flank movement." 
For the first time in a long while the band played in front 
of Col. Alcock's quarters this afternoon. 

SATURDAY, JUNE IITH. 

Saw my friend Duncan Paul, of Canandaigua, to-day. 
The Second and Third Battalions were sent out to build a 
heavy line of breastworks in our rear, which was finished 
about noon and the troops returned to camp. These 
works are evidently intended to check the advance of the 
enemy if any attempt is made to follow our army when 
we fall back. 

SUNDAY, JUNE I2TH. 

About lo A. M. we were ordered to withdraw very 
quietly from the line we had held so long, and did so, 
moving to the rear of Col. TidbalFs Artillery Brigade 
headquarters, where we rested in line until 9 o'clock P. M., 
when we marched off in an unknown direction with the 
artiller}^, continuing to travel until 5 o'clock in the morn- 
ing. On the march we crossed the Richmond and York 
River Railroad at 3 A. M., and it was estimated that we 
made something like twenty miles during the night. 



70 

MONDAY, JUNE I3TH. 

At 10 A. M. we took up our line of march, very much 
impeded by the wagon trains and the artillery, crossed the 
Chickahominy River at Long Bridge about 2 P. M., and 
reached Dr. Wilcox's plantation on the James River, oppo- 
site Windmill Point, at half-past 8 P. M. Here, near 
what is called Wilcox Landing, we camped in a magnifi- 
cent clover and wheat field which had theretofore appar- 
ently been spared the ravages of war. The Fifth Corps 
followed the Second Corps to this landing and the Sixth 
Corps struck the river a mile or two below us. Baldy 
Smith, with the Nineteenth Corps, occupied the attention 
of the enemy until we were well on our way, and then fell 
back to the White House. This is the first day since we 
left Culpepper on the 4th of May, when my company has 
not been actually exposed to the fire of the rebels the 
whole or some part of the twenty-four hours, and it is 
not very remarkable that the reaction from the strain of 
thirty-nine days under fire should make this day's march 
of about twenty miles seem to me particularly fatiguing. 
At one point I felt so weak and faint that I strayed off a 
little way from the line of march and laid down in the 
dry but cool and shady bed of a little stream. In about an 
hour, having recuperated somewhat, I arose and trudged 
along, soon overtaking the company, or what there was 
left of it. 

Lieut. Edmonston, who detested beans in any form, and 
before we left Fort Marcy was accustomed to refuse them 
with a sneer whenever they formed part of our bill of fare, 
marched along to-day toting in his hand a little pail of 
the Boston berries soaking in water preparatory to boiling 
them when we should halt long enough to do so, and this 



71 

unusual indication of a compulsatory education of taste, 
coupled with a marked tendency to "travel wide," as if my 
mercurial ointment had taken effect elsewhere than on the 
**graybacks" in the seams of his trousers, led me to think 
that he did not enjoy this day's experience any more than 
I did. 

TUESDAY, JUNE I4TH. 

A detail of a thousand men from the regiment was made 
this morning to go to the river near the Charles City Court 
House, which had been burned, and cut a way for the 
trains to the pontoon bridge and the boat landings, and 
was engaged in this work pretty much all day. The coun- 
try about here is very attractive, perhaps the most so of 
any part of Virginia which we have traversed. 

WEDNESDAY, JUNE I5TH. 

The Second Corps infantry and several of its batteries 
of artillery crossed the river to-day and started for Peters- 
burg, About 9 in the morning our regiment was ordered 
up close to the river bank preparatory to crossing, but was 
held there all day waiting for an opportunity, the means 
of crossing being quite inadequate for the Corps. Taking 
advantage of the delay, I sent one of my men to a sutler to 
get something for me toothsome to eat, and he returned 
with what he said was the only can of boned turkey the 
sutler had, and with that and some hardtack which I had 
secured from a Commissary, I sat on a log on the banks 
of the James indulging in the most delightful luncheon I 
had taken for several weeks, and watching the troops and 
artillery crossing the river several feet below me. Many 



72 

amusing scenes were witnessed from my log, perhaps the 
most amusing one of which was the struggle of two mules 
apparently to drown each other. They had been pushed 
off of a ferryboat into the river, and having their harnesses 
on, and being more or less strapped together, independent 
action was quite impossible, and so they devoted their 
energies to climbing over each other, the result of which 
was that each was alternately above and below the surface 
of the water until at length some of the teamsters got a 
rope fastened to one of the harnesses and dragged them 
ashore none the worse for their aquatic exercise. My com- 
pany cook, Skinkle, had somwhere during the campaign 
picked up a wounded mule of great size, and by dint of 
careful nursing had secured a most useful beast of burden, 
upon which he hung the heavier cooking utensils of the 
company, his own knapsack and occasionally the knapsack 
of some weary comrade. Many other similar ''waifs and 
strays" had been caught and utilized by the foot soldiers 
in the same way, until it seemed as if these "attached re- 
cruits" were more numerous than the regular "rank and 
file" of their kind. When we reached the James an order 
was promulgated to the effect that none of these useful 
animals should be permitted to cross, and when they were 
turned loose on the plain above the river it was surprising 
to see what an immense drove there was. Skinkle tried 
several times to run the guards, but his load of pots and 
kettles betrayed him and he was finally compelled to aban- 
don the effort. Just at this juncture a bright idea struck 
"Little Scovil," the youngest and the smallest man in the 
company, and coming to me very deferentially, he said that 
if I would give him "leave of absence" for the afternoon 
he would guarantee to get the mule across the river, and he 



73 

appealed to my selfish interest by saying that the beast had 
carried my own overcoat and blanket many a mile, and 
would be wanted again for the same service. Upon getting 
his ''leave," Scovil distributed the motley load of "camp 
and garrison equipage" among the men of the company, 
for the mule had many friends, to be taken across by them, 
and, shedding his uniform, boldly led the beast down on 
to one of the boats with the mules of a wagon train, and 
actually safely delivered it to Skinkle on the other side. 

THURSDAY, JUNE i6tH. 

At 4 A. M., after having loaded and unloaded boats for 
two days and two nights, the regiment crossed the river 
and then halted for some time waiting for an issuance of 
rations, but none being supplied, we marched on, hoping 
to overtake the supply train which it was discovered had 
preceded us, but, failing to overhaul it, we halted at i 
o'clock and the train was ordered to return. The road was 
extremely dusty and the temperature was lOO degrees in 
the shade, but at 5 o'clock we moved on to meet the train 
but missed it, and after marching about fifteen miles in 
the aggregate, we camped, thoroughly tired out, hot and 
hungry. We are informed that some of the rebels' outer 
works have been taken by the Ninth Corps. 

FRIDAY, JUNE I7TH. 

At 5 A. M. the regiment formed in line and marched to 
a point said to be within a mile and a half of Petersburg, 
into the streets of which we can look, where we remained 
for the rest of the day. Captain Jones, of Company D, 
commanding the Coehorn Mortar Battery, which is not 



74 

now with the regiment, was killed to-day by a sharp- 
shooter, and I learn that Sergeant Jones, of my company, 
who was missing after the Spottsylvania fight, was then 
taken prisoner. While laying out our camp and receiving 
our much-needed rations, Companies A, B, F, G and H, 
now numbering about five hundred men, were detailed as 
a working party to build a line of rifle pits in front of 
Gen'l Barlow's position and as near as possible to the 
rebel outer line, at a point not far from the City Point 
Railroad. As soon as it became sufficiently dark to par- 
tially conceal our movements, we shouldered our muskets 
and, under command of Major Williams, marched about 
through the woods until we reached a ravine, into which 
opened a deep trench or run-way, dry at the time, which 
came directly down from the rebel lines and formed a 
sort of covered way, offering complete protection on either 
side, but so straight that a solid shot traversing it length- 
wise 'vould probably have killed every man in it. Up this 
narrow defile, gradually growing more and more shallow, 
we crept as noiselessly as we could until we reached a 
point some twenty yards from the enemy's line, when we 
clambered out and, extending to the right and left in 
single file a few feet apart, began, each man for himself, 
to sink holes and gradually connect them, until by daylight 
we had constructed a very respectable rifle pit. An occa- 
sional but harmless shot at an officer as his outline was 
seen against the sky, indicated that our presence was 
known, but the limited number of shots convinced us that 
the force in our immediate front was small, as subsequent 
events proved it to be. 

SATURDAY, JUNE i8tH. 

Although originally sent out merely to build the line, 



75 

about midnight an order was received directing us to hoW 
it when built, and at three o'clock in the morning this 
order was followed by another assigning us to a position 
in the front line in a charge to be made from our rifle pit 
at four o'clock. To men who had marched under a broil- 
ing sun all the day before, and had worked all night like 
beavers, with nothing to eat and little to drink, this last 
order was not particularly welcome. Nor is this at all 
surprising when, in addition to their fatigue and hunger, 
we remember the ever exasperating fact that their contract 
with the Government exempted them from such service, 
and entitled them to artillery instead of spades and mus- 
kets. Nevertheless, when the order came : "Forward, 
double quick," as steady a line went over that earthwork 
as ever marched across the parade ground at old Fort Ethan 
Allen. The enemy's front line at the point we struck it, 
was just over the crest of a knoll and protected by a dense 
fringe of abattis, and we all expected at least a respectable 
salute when our troops came in sight, but it was occupied 
only by a picket line and but few shots greeted us. And 
yet this fact did not justify an order which just then came 
from the left, *'by the left flank, march," which, if exe- 
cuted, would have sent us running along parallel with the 
abattis ; exposed us to a flank fire and delayed our silenc- 
ing what little fire there was. I gave my own company, 
H, which was in -the center, the order "left oblique," and 
Captain McKeel and the other company commander on my 
right conformed to my movement, and our three companies 
crossed the first rebel line at an angle. The movement of 
the two companies on the left directly to the left caused a 
break in the battalion, but it was soon closed and facing 
to the front again we swept down on the second line of 



76 

rifle pits, which was nothing more nor less than one of 
those pubHc highways so common in Virginia, excavated 
from side to side to the depth of three or four feet, and 
which at that point ran parallel to the line already taken. 
This line was also feebly defended, and after a brisk but 
brief fusillade, its occupants took a hasty departure, leav- 
ing their corn-bread breakfasts untouched. Crossing this 
road we were just jumping a fence upon the other side, 
when, for some inscrutable reason, as it seemed to us, a 
halt was ordered, and there we lay in that road for several 
hours while a line of earthworks grew up to completion 
before us. I do not know what there was behind that line, 
but I entertain no doubt but that had the charge of the 
morning been pressed, as it seems to me it should have 
been, that particular line would have given us no trouble 
thereafter. 

Up to this time, though we had charged nearly half a 
mile and carried two lines of works, we had met with com- 
paratively few casualties, but among our losses were some 
of our best men, such as Captain Ed. Knower, of G Com- 
pany, and First Sergeant Theben, of my own company, 
both of whom were severely wounded. 

The morning was intensely hot, and while some of the 
officers were taking observations or endeavoring to secure 
rations for their commands, the men spread their shelter 
tents upon temporary supports and many of them dropped 
to sleep from sheer exhaustion, careless of occasional stray 
missiles which zipped about their ears and cut down their 
tent poles. One of my men, however, seemed to be par- 
ticularly depressed, and when I overheard him telling his 



17 

companions that he had had a presentiment that he was to 
be shot that day, a topic of conversation not calculated 
to cheer and encourage men situated as we then were, I 
walked over to him and endeavored to disabuse his mind 
of any such sombre impression. Just then the most musi- 
cal little bird that I ever listened to alighted on a fence- 
post just over this man's head, and amid the hissing of 
bullets and the bursting of shell about us, broke out in the 
clearest, sweetest and most rapturous little song that I 
ever heard. I am not particularly superstitious, but some- 
how I couldn't but take the incident as a most favorable 
omen, and I shall never cease to regret that before the day 
was over I had forgotten who the man was and so shall 
never know the outcome of his presentiment. 

While reclining against the bank of this sunken road, 
one of Berdan's sharpshooters, with a telescope rifle, came 
along and sat down beside me and at my request handed 
me his gun. After examining it I glanced through the 
board fence and saw a straw hat bob up and down behind 
the enemy's works, as its wearer leaned down and straight- 
ened up while shoveling earth to the top of the works. 
Resting the rifle on the edge of a board I drew a bead on 
that straw hat as it came up and pulled the trigger. The 
bullet struck in the dirt about two inches too low, but it 
attracted no attention and so I tried again and never saw 
anything more of that hat, but I am glad to feel that I 
shall never know to a certainty why I did not see it again. 

About nine o'clock orders came to continue the charge. 
From the fence above referred to the ground, covered 
with some sort of growing grain, sloped gently down for 
a hundred yards to a narrow belt of trees in which was 
the dry bed of a little stream, and beyond this belt the 



78 

grade ascended gradually for some five hundred yards to 
the rebel works on the brow of the hill, the intervening 
field being covered with a luxuriant growth of corn about 
three feet high. Captain Vanderwiel was assigned to 
command a picket line which was to precede us, and the 
advance from this point was to be made in two lines of 
battle, our five companies forming part of the front line. 
I saw no second line of battle upon our part of the field 
during the earlier part of the charge, and I certainly was 
not informed of any in advance. The enemy had posted two 
pieces of artillery, perhaps more, in what appeared to be 
angles of its new works, and our battalion very nearly 
covered the front between these guns. To those of us 
who had anxiously watched all the morning the prepara- 
tions for our reception, and had seen some of the guns 
moved into position and the troops deployed behind the 
breastworks, it seemed perfectly evident that the charge 
would now prove a disastrous failure, but when the order 
was given, though we felt we were going to almost certain 
death, these five companies of artillerymen, always accus- 
tomed to obey orders, scaled the fence with a cheer, the 
enemy commencing to fire the moment we left the road. 
Reaching the belt of timber, we found the picket line halted 
and firing from behind trees, but the main line pushed on 
and out into the open cornfield. One of my men, a good 
man, too, but for the moment forgetful that the question 
was not for him or me to decide, stopped behind a tree, 
and when ordered forward began to argue that we never 
could carry that breastwork, a proposition in which I 
heartily concurred, but it being no time or place for the 
interchange of our views I leveled my revolver at his head 
and he broke cover instantly. Another of my men had 



79 

his musket struck by a ball and bent double like a hairpin, 
but straightening out his arm, which was nearly paralyzed 
for an instant, he picked up another musket and went on, 
keeping his place in the line. Just at that moment Major 
Williams received a rifle ball in the shoulder, and falling 
near me, though I was not the ranking Captain on the 
field, directed me to assume command of the battalion, and 
I turned my own company over to Lieutenant Edmonston. 
On assuming command, I noticed that the men in the 
company on the right of my own, whose Captain had al- 
lowed them a ration of whiskey just before we started, 
were dropping into a little ditch just outside of the line 
of trees, and that the Captain, who was as brave a man as 
ever lived, but was rather noted for his varied and vigorous 
vocabulary, was passing up and down the ditch poking 
them with his sword and with tears streaming down his 
face, but without an oath, was begging them to get out and 
keep in line and not disgrace themselves and him. Think- 
ing to shame his men by letting them know that I, the 
Captain of a rival company, saw them skulking, I shouted 
to him to get his men out of the ditch and press forward. 
I shall never forget the hurricane of shot and shell which 
struck us as we emerged from the belt of trees. The 
sound of the whizzing bullets and exploding shells, blend- 
ing in awful volume, seemed like the terrific hissing of 
some gigantic furnace. Men, torn and bleeding, fell head- 
long from the ranks as the murderous hail swept through 
the line. A splash of blood from a man hit in the cheek 
struck me in the face. The shrieks of the wounded mingled 
with the shouts of defiance which greeted us as we neared 
the rebel works, and every frightful and sickening incident 
conspired to paint a scene which no one who survived that 
day will care again to witness. 



3p 

This part of the charge was made across a portion of 
an old race course, and the belt of trees which bordered 
the track at that point and in which lay the dry bed of 
the little stream, formed a sort of arc with the ends pro- 
jected toward the enemy, and as the flanks of the battalion 
came out in full view, and we were within about one hun- 
dred and fifty yards of the rebel line, I was astonished to 
see that there were no troops on either side of us, and look- 
ing back, I discovered that my five companies were the 
only troops of all the charging lines which were in sight, 
that had obeyed the order and advanced from the sunken 
road. Then for the first time I understood the fierceness 
of the fire to which we were being subjected ; saw that we 
were receiving not only the fire from the works in our 
front, to which we were entitled, but a cross fire from 
troops and artillery on the right and left of our front which 
would have been directed toward other parts of the charg- 
ing lines if we had been supported, and realized that with 
this little handful of men, being then so rapidly decimated, 
it was worse than useless to continue the attack. Accord- 
ingly I halted the line and gave the order to lie down, the 
corn being high enough to furnish some little concealment. 
A general break to the rear would have cost as many lives 
as the double-quick to the front had done, so I instantly 
followed my first order with another to the effect that each 
man should get to the rear as best he could. 

When we left the sunken road the Colonel of a regiment 
on our left whose men, like most of our infantry after 
six weeks of that sort of strategy, tired of charging a 
breastwork three times and then going around it, had flatly 
refused to follow him, joined us with his color-guard and 
gallantly accompanied us as far as we went, and there 



8i 

planted his flags in the soft earth. He must have discov- 
ered the futiHty of a further advance about the time that 
I did, for just as I ordered the men down he ordered a 
retreat, though we were not under his command, and un- 
der the combined orders the men at once disappeared in 
the corn. My orders were intended to embrace the officers 
of the battahon as well as the men but they were not so 
understood, and after the men were out of sight there 
stood the line of officers, still targets for the enemy, calmly 
facing him and awaiting further orders. I shall never for- 
get my thrill of admiration for those brave men as I 
glanced for an instant up and down the line, but it was no 
time for a dress parade and I immediately ordered them 
down and laid down myself. 

The sun was blazing straight down upon us and the 
surface of the ground was very hot, and added to these 
discomforts, the enemy was firing into the corn in the hope 
of hitting some of us, which no doubt was done. Although 
by no means overcharged with physical courage, as I have 
had occasion more than once to find out, I was not, up to 
this point, conscious of the slightest apprehension for my 
own personal safety, my intense anxiety for my men and 
my fixed determination to go over that breastwork at all 
hazards having probably banished all other considerations 
from my mind, but as I lay there broiling in the sun, normal 
conditions began to return, and it occurred to me that some 
stray bullet might possibly search me out, and, what seemed 
even worse, — for there is no measuring the limits and effect 
of personal vanity, — the reflection forced itself upon me 
that the rebels, and perhaps some of our own men at the 
rear, had seen the leader of that charge, an acting Major 
at least, actually hide in the corn. That last idea settled it, 



82 

and reflecting that if I should go directly to the rear I 
would be an easier mark than if I should go across the 
fire, and that a wound in the back was not considered orna- 
mental for a soldier, I arose and deliberately walked diag- 
onally to the rear until I came to the continuation of the 
ditch or runway up which, at its distant lower end, we 
had filed the night before to build a rifle pit, and dropping 
into that, worked my way down to the piece of race track 
just outside of the belt of trees, and crossing that reached 
our works in safety. Why I was not struck while making 
that trip is more than I can tell, for the rebel riflemen had 
a much easier shot at me, and at half the distance, than 
I had in the morning at their man with the straw hat, and, 
as giving some idea of the severity of the fire we faced 
that day, I may mention that on returning to our lines I 
counted twenty-four shot and shell marks on the side to- 
wards the enemy of a little pine tree not more than eight 
inches through at the butt, and that the battalion lost, ac- 
cording to the company reports, one hundred and fifteen 
men killed and wounded in this charge. 

In my own company the loss was nineteen. Privates 
Elliott and Mead being killed, and First Sergeant Theben, 
Corporal Martin, Privates Allardice, Butler, Doty, Hicks, 
Kimber, E. H. Lyke, Markey, Merrill, Perry, Hamilton 
Rose, Selah P. Rose, Sheldon, Asa Smith, Vischer and 
Williams being wounded, many of whom will no doubt die 
in the hospitals to which they were sent. 

As evening approached I endeavored to ascertain to 
what command our battalion belonged, a very important 
question, since the men had had practically nothing to 
eat since they left camp the night before and the neces- 
sity for rations was imperative. I found that we were 



83 

on General Birney's line, then temporarily in command of 
General Gibbon, but were assigned to no particular Bri- 
gade, and every one to whom I appealed for supplies dis- 
claimed any knowledge of us. Having exhausted every 
effort for practical recognition in some quarter, I notified 
the officers in immediate command of the troops on each 
side of the battalion, to close up the gap that would be 
made by our withdrawal, and, without leave or license from 
anybody, marched what was left of the five companies back 
to the camp of the regiment, which was some distance in 
the rear and behind the second Union line. 

SUNDAY, JUNE I9TH. 

The regiment moved its camp farther back, and occu- 
pied a line of breastworks built day before yesterday by the 
rest of the regiment while the five companies were prepar- 
ing for, and taking part in, the charge just described. Here 
we were permitted to remain and rest all day. I hear that 
Lieutenant Lincoln, of the 126th, has lost an arm. 

MONDAY, JUNE 20TH. 

The regiment was ordered to report to Col. Tidball, 
commanding the Artillery Brigade of the Second Corps, 
and on reporting was ordered back to its camp. It is ru- 
mored that the Second Corps is to be relieved and sent 
to Washington, or somewhere else, and we Heavy Artiller- 
ists fervently hope that there may be truth in the report. 

TUESDAY, JUNE 2 1 ST. 

No orders came relieving us, but at 3 A. M. we reported 
again to Col. Tidball, and at 5 o'clock the regiment was 



84 

sent to the left of the line of investment and crossed the 
Norfolk and Petersburg R. R. After marching about six 
miles, and it being reported that the rebels were advanc- 
ing on some point to our right, we were counter-marched 
some four miles and drawn up in line behind some earth- 
works with the artillery. When the excitement was over, 
we rolled up in our blankets and shelter tents and got what 
sleep we could. My mattress consisted of two parallel 
rails about six inches apart, with one end supported on 
the second rail of an old fence, alongside of a brass twelve- 
pounder and without even a stone for a pillow. It was 
rumored that the infantry of the Second Corps had gone 
out somewhere on a skirmish. I heard to-day that Pri- 
vates Lyke and Smith, wounded on the i8th, died in hos- 
pital of their wounds. 

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22D. 

The regiment moved back from the lines about a mile 
and camped. In the afternoon my company was sent out 
to make gabions for an earthwork which was being built 
for artillery, and while at work a little distance in rear of 
the position of McKnight's battery. General Meade came 
riding along at a very leisurely pace and apparently alone. 
Suddenly a solid shot from the enemy struck the earth 
just in front of his horse, followed in a moment by another 
which landed close by the Tirst, and laying himself along 
the neck of his horse, just as any private in a cavalry com- 
pany might have done, he drove his spurs into the horse's 
flanks and got out of range about as quick as that ma- 
noeuvre could possibly be executed. Very soon after this 
incident the rebels made a charge and took some of Mc- 
Knight's guns, how many I do not know, and came pretty 



S5 

near gobbling up Lieut. McPherson's Coehorn Mortar 
Battery also, which was nearby, manned by Co. C of our 
regiment, and if they had come a little farther they could 
have captured my whole company too, for our muskets 
were stacked at some distance from where we were at 
work, and we were armed only with axes and jack-knives. 
Not long after the enemy had withdrawn with its booty, 
we were ordered to go to camp by a staff officer, and find- 
ing the camp deserted, followed the regiment to a point on 
General Barlow's First Division line. 

THURSDAY, JUNE 23D. 

At 5 A. M. the regiment was ordered to report to Gen- 
eral Gibbon for assignment to a position on his line. On 
reaching that line I found that the position to be occupied 
by my company was a very exposed one, being an angle 
the interior of which was commanded by the opposing 
rebel lines, and especially by sharpshooters, but by going 
through a narrow ravine in single file we succeeded in 
getting into the breastworks with the loss of but one man. 
Private Sinnot, who was shot through the heart and killed 
instantly. We found these works little more than a mere 
rifle-pit pushed out in front of the main line, and we at 
once went to work to strengthen it. Having accomplished 
all that we could, the men stretched their shelter tents on 
poles above them for protection from the sun, and laid 
down in the ditch or on the bank beside it. I sat with my 
back against the logs just at the angle, and for some time 
two sharpshooters, one on each side, amused themselves 
trying to hit me. Each could from his position look right 
into the rear of our breastworks, one seeing the logs to 
the right and the other those to the left of me, but neither 



86 

could quite reach my corner. Just as I was beginning to 
think that my position was the safest on the line, I heard 
that peculiar "spat" which a bullet makes when it strikes 
a man or a green tree, and saw that a shot had cut off the 
stick which a moment before had supported the shelter 
tent of Corporal Policy, who was lying on the bank near 
my feet, and on pulling the canvas off of him I saw that 
the ball had entered his head at the left cheek bone, passed 
under the skin over the temple, and then out about an inch 
and a half from where it entered. He was unconscious 
for a iom moments only, and as soon as he revived I di- 
rected two men to take him to the rear. Earlier in the day 
Policy had had the sole of one of his shoes cut by a rifle 
ball, and had jokingly asked if that wound didn't entitle 
him to go to the hospital, and on my replying that I did 
not think he could march very comfortably in that shoe, 
he said: ''Oh, well! I guess I'll give the 'Johnnies' an- 
other chance." 

In the afternoon we were ordered out of this nasty 
position, and were sent to build more substantial breast- 
works farther back and in rear of a piece of woods, where, 
after throwing up enough of a rifle-pit to protect us, we 
spent the night. When we withdrew from the advanced 
position the rebels came in and occupied the line, and one 
of my men named Blair, who did not know that the com- 
pany had left during his temporary absence, returned just 
as the "Johnnies" came swarming over the angle, one of 
whom raised his rifle and called on the "damned Yankee" 
to surrender. It required but an instant for Blair to take 
in the whole situation, and employing a mode of expression 
quite as complimentary and picturesque as that of his 
Southern brother, from which it was fairly inferable that 



87 

he declined the invitation, he dodged a bullet aimed at his 
head and plunging into the brush, soon joined his com- 
rades. 

FRIDAY, JUNE 24TH. 

We finished the line of breastworks commenced last 
night and remained behind it all day. Private Lynch, 
my "body guard" already referred to, got possession of 
some ^'commissary" somewhere, and, as usual when such 
an opportunity offered, towards night got very drunk, and 
I sent Corporal O'Connor to trice him up by the thumbs. 
This is a mode of punishment quite familiar to Lynch, and 
is usually very effective in inducing early sobriety, but 
when the Corporal went to visit him a little after dark, 
he found that the inebriate had untied himself and disap- 
peared, and a most careful search failed to find him any- 
where in the camp. Sometime during the night Major Ar- 
thur came rushing out of his tent, shouting that the enemy 
was upon us, and ordering that the men be gotten into the 
breastworks as quickly as possible to repel a charge, but 
after waiting a little while and no enemy appearing, the 
truth leaked out and we returned to our blankets. It 
seems that Lynch, on releasing himself, was sobered up 
sufficiently to want to hide somewhere, so he went into the 
Major's tent in that officer's absence, and crept under his 
bunk, which was built in the usual way, of little parallel 
poles supported a foot or thereabouts above the ground 
by cross sticks held up by forked posts, and after the Major 
had turned in and gone to sleep, in attempting to turn over 
Lynch had suddenly lifted his superior officer and rolled 
him out of bed and so caused all the commotion. 



88 

SATURDAY, JUNE 25TH. 

Remained in the same camp all day. About half-past 
nine in the evening the enemy felt our line, but finding 
us at home withdrew. 

SUNDAY, JUNE 26tH. 

Orders were received to-day assigning our First Bat- 
talion to the First Brigade and the Second Battalion to 
the Second Brigade of Birney's Division of the Sec- 
ond Corps. There seems to be no salvation for the 
"Fourth Heavy." Heretofore, though nominally brigaded 
with the artillery, we have not only supported the artillery 
and furnished men to fill up the batteries, but have been 
detailed to guard wagon trains; to build roads and earth- 
works as engineers ; to occupy breastworks ; to do picket 
duty and make charges as infantry, and, in short, to per- 
form every kind of military duty except that for which 
we were enlisted, but now, with the battalions again sepa- 
rated, we are infantry with no longer any disguise about 
it. General Pierce assures our battalion commander that 
the companies will have no picket duty to perform except 
in very urgent cases, but we know, of course, that that is 
all humbug, for in military operations all "cases" are 
"urgent." 

MONDAY, JUNE 27TH. 

Captain Eddy of Company B resigned to-day, and I 
would resign also were it not for the fact that I induced so 
many men to enlist in the battalion or the Eleventh Heavy 
Artillery, which was consolidated with the Fourth, and it 
would seem like deserting those men, instead of standing 



89 

by them as I am in honor bound to do, though I do not 
now command the company which I recruited. As ex- 
pected, details from the battalion were sent out on picket 
in the afternoon. 

TUESDAY, JUNE 28tH. 

We joined the Infantry Brigade to which our battalion 
was assigned, while it was on the march to relieve a part 
of the front line, and after halting a while to rest, moved 
into some woods and threw up breastworks at right angles 
with the former one. It looks as if we may remain here 
for some time. Lieut. Edmonston with a detail from the 
company was ordered out on picket, and during the day 
King, the regimental sutler, put in an appearance, and 
those of us who have money are enabled to vary a little 
our rations of pork, hardtack, coffee and brown sugar, and 
that abominable combination known as "scouse." 

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29TH. 

All quiet along the lines to-day. Joe Solomon, my act- 
ing assistant bodyguard, fell over a stump and broke his 
arm, and promptly, and I may say very cheerfully, went 
to the hospital. Lieut. Edmonston returned from the picket 
line with his men at eleven o'clock to-night. 

THURSDAY, JUNE 3OTH. 

There has been great dissatisfaction among, and some 
outspoken complaint by, both officers and men at the cut- 
ting up of the regiment and the sending of its battalions 
to different infantry commands, and, in company with some 
of the officers, I to-day called on Colonel Tidball about it 



90 

at the Headquarters of the Second Corps. The Colonel 
was very polite, and particularly complimentary about the 
charge made by the five companies on the i8th, though in 
the newspaper accounts the name of our battalion was not 
mentioned. He said that he and General Hancock had 
watched us with their field glasses ; that he had observed 
that the troops engaged belonged to his own regiment, 
and had even recognized me and some of the other officers 
on the field, and he insisted on taking me to General Han- 
cock's tent and introducing me as the officer whom they 
had seen leading that charge. The General was always 
stately but, with a very gracious bow, he said: *'Yes, I 
saw that charge; it was gallantly made, very gallantly 
made," and I won't deny that the commendation of that 
distinguished officer quite compensated for the hazard of 
that diagonal trip across the cornfield, which was an exhi- 
bition of most inordinate vanity rather than genuine hero- 
ism on my part. 

After a conference between Col. Tidball and General 
Hancock it was arranged, as I was informed, that the 
regiment should be brought together again and be bri- 
gaded with the Regular Engineers. Subsequently and 
during the same day, we learned that Col. Tidball had 
been relieved from active service in the field and ordered 
on duty at West Point. 

FRIDAY, JULY 1ST. 

Private Carman shot himself in the head at 4 o'clock 
this morning. He is thought to have been rendered insane 
by a sunstroke. During the day a communication was 
sent by the officers of the regiment to President Lincoln 
through Governor Morgan, reciting the facts of which we 



91 

complain — our fraudulent enlistment and perfidious treat- 
ment, and asking that justice be done us, but none of us 
entertains much hope of a favorable result. In the after- 
noon our battalion joined the First Battalion now with 
the First Brigade. 

SATURDAY, JULY 2ND. 

In camp all day. Am not feeling at all well. That per- 
sistent Virginia diarrhoea which has afflicted me more or 
less ever since we left Culpepper, aggravated, no doubt, 
by the intense heat we have had to endure, and by the 
coarse and scanty fare upon which we have been compelled 
to subsist (for I actually lived for nearly two days at one 
time on half an ear of corn which one of my men stole 
from the manger of a mule), seems at last to have percept- 
ibly affected a naturally strong constitution. I think I'll 
see the surgeon to-morrow. 

We hear that many heavy guns have been put in posi- 
tion and that a regular siege of Petersburg has been de- 
cided on. Why don't they give us some of these guns in- 
stead of muskets? 

MONDAY, JUWfi< IITH. 

Since the 2nd we have lain in the rifle-pits with the in- 
fantry, sweltering in the sun in the day time and doing 
quite our share of picket duty at night. The dust, fine as 
ashes, is at least four inches deep in the trails and cov- 
ered ways used by the troops, and at midday it is no un- 
common thing to see the thermometer mark no degrees 
in what little shade there is. There has been no rain for 
weeks, and heat is killing more men than the ''Jo^innies" 



92 

are. I have met Harry Hopkins, son of Rev. Dr. Hop- 
kins, President of Williams College, who was on the front 
line with the regiment of the Excelsior Brigade of which 
he is Chaplain. He was a senior in college when I was 
a freshman. When the Sixth Corps went to Washington 
to defend that city, our Second Corps became the left of 
the line, and Grant seems to be now building field forts 
all along the line. 

Not having felt at all well for some time, I determined 
to-day to act on the advice of the surgeon and go to hos- 
pital for a few days. 

WEDNESDAY, JULY I3TH. 

After having been in the field hospital ever since Mon- 
day, the nth, I rejoined my company to-day, feeling some- 
what better for the rest and treatment I have had, but still 
very weak. It continues very hot and the dust is floating in 
clouds about us, and the deaths from sunstroke continue 
to be numerous. I found my company still with the in- 
fantry on the firing lines in the woods, but was rejoiced 
to learn that we were, or were to be, transferred to the 
Siege Train, and a preparatory inspection was had. 

THURSDAY, JULY I4TH. '^ 

Ten companies of the regiment under Lieut. Col. Alcock 
were to-day ordered to report to General Hunt, Chief of 
Artillery of the Army of the Potomac, and were assigned 
to the Siege Train, Col. Henry S. Abbott commanding, and 
as soon as other infantry troops arrived to take our place 
on the lines, we moved to a point in the woods near the 
Engineers and laid out our first regular camp since we 
left Culpepper, This is the ninth disposition that has 



93 

been made of my battalion since we left Fort Marcy, but 
the officers and men feel particularly elated that the regi- 
ment, or the greater part of it, has been brought together, 
and that at last, after losing more than half of our men, 
we are to be permitted to perform the duty for which we 
enlisted, and we wonder whether our letter to the President 
had anything to do with this assignment but, of course, 
we shall never know. 

SUNDAY, JULY 24TH. 

Ever since the 14th we have maintained our camp, and 
been occupied in building brush houses and log huts ; in 
digging great holes in the ground and sinking cracker 
boxes at the bottoms to catch what little water soaks out 
of the sand, and in drilling and assisting in the construction 
of field works. On the 19th rain, so long prayed for, 
came, and for a few hours at least everybody was happy. 
My own brush house at the head of my company street 
is really quite comfortable. It contains three bunks made 
of small saplings for the use of Lieutenants Edmonston 
and Parkhurst and myself, and a cracker box for a table, 
and we have actually been able to indulge in the luxury 
of having our shoes polished every morning, and of occa- 
sionally reading the New York papers. In addition to 
woodticks and "graybacks," there is a large blue fly indig- 
enous in these parts, the feet of which are sO' constructed 
that when it alights it cannot be brushed off without the 
most persistent scraping, and Lynch, the hero of the 
Major's tent, has been instructed to lay a newspaper over 
the face of each of us when he comes for our shoes at day- 
light, for it is then that these flies are most troublesome. 
I had noticed that for several mornings when we were 



94 

ready for our modest breakfast, Lynch's breath indicated 
that he had indulged in a morning nip, and occasionally 
he would be quite unsteady on his pins, as well as original 
in his ideas, for once when I gave him a knife to clean he 
deliberately stropped it on the greasy leg of his trousers 
and handed it back for my use, and as we had each been 
careful to give him no orders on the Commissary, I could 
not imagine where his supplies came from. One morn- 
ing when he spread the papers as usual I happened to 
be awake, though he did not know it, and there being 
a hole through the paper just in front of one of my eyes, I 
saw him stretch up over the sleeping Edmonston, whose 
bunk was across the house at the foot of my bunk, take down 
his canteen and regale himself with a generous swig. Tak- 
ing up my shoes he went out and polished them, and on 
returning for Edmonston's shoes he again reached for the 
canteen, but just as his arm was fully extended I sat up 
and shouted *"bout face/' and he obeyed the order in- 
stantly, his arm still in the air and an expression on his 
face utterly impossible to describe. The two lieutenants, 
startled out of their slumbers, sat up and enjoyed the poor 
fellow's discomfiture when caught in the act, quite as much 
as I did, and I doubt if Edmonston ever again leaves his 
canteen so exposed. 

Private Blair, the man who, as already described, disap- 
pointed the "Johnny Reb" who wanted to make a prisoner 
of him, is one of the best men in the company, and when 
there is any fighting or other duty to be done he is always 
on hand, but he has a decided weakness for foraging, and 
he and his immediate friends always seem to have some- 
thing in their haversacks. On one occasion when I was 
some distance from the front, I saw Blair prowling about 



95 

in a little grove near which I observed two or three sheep 
running about. Of course I knew what he was after for 
he had his rifle with him, and the moment he saw me he 
dodged behind a tree and remained until I was out of sight. 
That night our cook gave us some very tender lamb for 
our supper, saying that it had been presented by some one 
who did not care to have his name mentioned, and when 
I was making my usual rounds through the company street 
after "taps," I was amused to hear from behind Blair's 
quarters the recital to his tent-mates of the incidents of the 
day, the most satisfactory of which to him seemed to be, 
that owing to his strategy the Captain hadn't caught him, 
though he asserted that if the Captain had actually seen 
him shoot the sheep, he didn't think anything would have 
been said about it, as that officer had himself had some of 
the mutton. And I incline to think that Blair was right, 
for a few days before I had done some foraging on my 
own hook, and no officer should criticise an enlisted man 
for doing what he does himself. Taking Joe Solomon 
with me one day, I went to a house situated some distance 
from our camp where I was credibly informed that there 
was a barn full of chickens, and attempted to negotiate 
with the lady of the house for a pair of them at any price 
in greenbacks which she might be pleased to name, but 
she was very decided in her refusal to oblige me, and more- 
over declared that "Yankee money was no good." Gen- 
eral Patrick, the Provost Marshal of the army, had posted 
a squad of infantry under command of a Captain as a 
guard at this house, and realizing that so long as the guard 
should remain the woman would have the better of the 
argument, I quietly waited until the guard was relieved, 
when I renewed my application and, meeting with 



96 

no success, sent Joe with a darky who had con- 
fidentially informed me that there were "fifty of 'em 
dar," to select two of the finest specimens, and 
in the meantime vainly endeavored to persuade the 
woman to accept my proffered two dollars. When the men 
returned from the barn with the chickens I gave the money 
to the grinning "contraband," but before Joe and I were 
out of sight on the way to camp, the woman was fighting 
him for its possession. That night the birds were served 
for supper, and proved to be two of the very toughest old 
tooth-defying cacklers that could have been found in all 
Virginia, and it seemed to me that retributive justice had 
rubbed it in with unnecessary emphasis. 

One morning Lieut. Parkhurst did not turn out of his 
blankets with his customary promptness, and on inquiry 
Lieut. Edmonston informed me that he had had a "pre- 
sentiment," an experience not uncommon in the army. 
Thereupon I went and sat on the side of his bunk, and 
tried to encourage him to throw oi¥ the depressing appre- 
hension which possessed him that he was to be killed in 
our next engagement. I met with little success at first, 
for, while as brave an officer as there is in the army, his 
anxiety for the welfare of his wife, and of others near 
and dear to him, had overmastered him for the time being, 
and when I remembered that Artificer Benedict had told 
me of a similar "presentiment" which he had had the day 
before he was killed at the battle of Harris Farm, near 
Spottsylvania, I confess that I was not without some mis- 
givings as to the credence to be accorded to premonitions. 
Parkhurst was the first man whom I promoted when I took 
command of Company H, making him a corporal much 
against his preferences after he had served as a private 



97 

in the company for nearly two years, and he had won his 
commission as a Lieutenant after an examination and solely 
on his merits, though it did not actually reach him until he 
had served as a non-commissioned officer during a large 
part of the campaign, and when I succeeded in having him 
assigned to my company as Second Lieutenant, I felt that 
in Edmonston and Parkhurst I had the best two all-around 
officers in the regiment. Hence I was more than usually 
concerned about Parkhurst being thus apparently stam- 
peded, but after having argued with him for some time, 
citing cases where ''presentiments" had proved false, and 
assured him that if anything should happen to him Ed- 
monston or I would see that all his expressed wishes with 
reference to his family were carried out, he gradually re- 
covered control of himself, and I am happy to say that 
until this time at least he is as good as new, though he has 
since been under fire. 

And while throwing some sidelights on our camp life 
for the past ten days, I must not omit to mention an inci- 
dent which furnishes all the elements of a nice little Sun- 
day school story, and has the advantage of most of such 
stories in actually being true. Dropping into one of the 
larger brush houses one day, I found several of my brother 
officers sitting on cracker boxes around a table formed by 
two larger boxes covered with canvas, engaged in a game 
of draw-poker. Among them was the Captain whose men 
had sought cover in the ditch during the charge of the i8th 
of June, as hereinbefore described, and he was anathe- 
matizing his luck at cards in language characteristically 
lurid and vigorous. After watching the game for a little 
while, I told him that his remarks reminded me that I had 
a question which I wanted to ask him, and without inter- 



98 

rupting his "straddling of blinds" and ''going five better," 
he bade me "fire away." "Well," I said, "you remember 

how your men dropped into that ditch on the i8th " 

and I got no farther before he let off a volley of verbal 
pyrotechnics at his men for disgracing themselves and 
him, which fairly charged the atmosphere with linguistic 
sulphur and attracted the attention of every player at the 
table. Before he could catch his breath I broke in with — 
"Yes, I know, but I noticed at the time that although you 
were greatly humiliated and distressed at the conduct of 
your men, and were begging them most abjectly to get 
into line, you never indulged in a single cuss word, and 
the fact was so remarkable that right there in the midst 
of the fight, I made up my mind that if you and I should 
survive, I would ask you why it was that you maintained 
such complete control of your variegated and iridescent 
vocabulary, when I expected a perfect aurora borealis of 
vituperation." Slapping his cards face down upon the 
table he turned to me and said, very seriously, "Yes, you 
are right. I remember it perfectly. I did not swear. I 
noticed it myself, and, to tell you the truth, the reason was 

that I was too d d scared to swear." Not a man who 

heard him, however, accepted that explanation, for all knew 
that he was one of the bravest of the brave, and knew, for 
they had been there and knew how it was themselves, that 
the simple fact was that at that particular time he realized 
the possibilities of the situation, and did not court the com- 
bination of a bullet in his heart and an oath on his lips. 

After the hand was played out the Captain turned again 
to me and said : "It was that whiskey on an empty stomach 
that did the business for my boys, but tell me, Chaplain 
(I was sometimes addressed as Chaplain because I wore 



99 

a long blue overcoat and did not indulge in stimulants 
while in the field), for I, too, have a question to ask, Is 
it true that when you refused an order to your Commis- 
sary Sergeant for a ration of whiskey for Company H, 
you told him that we were just going into a fight, and 
that if you or any of your company should go 
to heaven or hell that day, you proposed that the 
detail should go cold sober?" Of course, he did not quote 
me correctly, but it was the fact that I refused the order 
when sought, though I had a ration issued immediately 
after the fight was over and when we got back to the 
sunken road. 

To-day two of our battalions were engaged from five 
o'clock in the morning until eight o'clock in the evening 
in building earthworks for mortar batteries. 

MONDAY, JULY 25TH. 

We were to-day ordered back to the Second Corps, but, 
upon the representation of Capt. Mendall of the Engineers, 
the order was countermanded. 

TUESDAY, JULY 26tH. 

The whole regiment was at work all day on the fortifica- 
tions, and it looks as if the plan is to settle down to a regu- 
lar siege. Already the earthworks on both sides form two 
or three lines and are very heavy, and at points the picket 
lines are hardly twenty yards apart. Frequently the pick- 
ets get very chummy, and I have heard that they sometimes 
have a game of cards with each other, though I have never 
seen it, but I do know that when the men seem to be getting 
familiar, orders will be issued by one side or the other to 



ICX) 

commence firing, and then we hear, **Get into your holes, 
Yanks," or ''Lie low. Johnnies, we've got orders to fire." 
During the day I saw a man killed by a shell passing 
straight down the "covered way" some distance behind the 
works, and another killed by a mortar shell which went 
into the ground and exploded close by where he was sitting 
in one of the mortar battery forts. 

WEDNESDAY JULY 27TH. 

Captain Gould was detailed to-day with his Co. K. to 
take charge of six Coehorn Mortars in a work on the line 
of the Eighteenth Corps, a little to the right of the point 
where it is rumored that a mine under the enemy's works 
is being dug. The Second Corps drew out of the works 
yesterday, and it is reported that it has gone way around 
to the right. Heavy firing was heard in that direction 
this morning. 

THURSDAY, JULY 28tH. 

With part of the company I was "on fatigue" to-day, 
which means working on the breastworks, and Edmonston 
remained in camp. 

FRIDAY, JULY 29TH. 

Very quiet in front of the Fifth Corps, which is now on 
the extreme left, but firing is brisk in front of the Ninth. 
While "on fatigue" again to-day in command of the Second 
Battalion, I was ordered to camp to take charge of a bat- 
tery of four and a half inch rifled siege guns in front of 
the Fifth Corps, with my own Co. H, and a detail from 
Co. F, for I did not have men enough left in my company 



lOI 

to man and work a six-gun battery. At three o'clock in the 
afternoon I reported in person to General Warren at his 
Headquarters for instructions, and there met the General, 
his Chief of Staff, Col. Locke, and his Chief of Artillery, 
Col. Wainwright. The General at the moment of my ar- 
rival was experimenting with some new kind of shells 
which the enemy had fired at his Headquarters, and was 
exploding them in a hole in the ground, but he at once 
took me into the house which he was occupying, and spread- 
ing on a table a large map showing the position of the 
various works on both sides in front of his Corps, and to 
the right as far as the salient under which was the mine, 
gave me the whole plan of attack for the following morn- 
ing, including not only the part which my battery was to 
take but also the part which each of the Corps was to take. 
Indeed, so full and accurate were his descriptions of situa- 
tion, distance and direction, that although I could see but 
a small part of the enemy's line the next morning, I had no 
difficulty in dropping my heavy shells just where the Gen- 
eral desired and avoiding our own charging columns at 
and near the Crater. 

At five o'clock that afternoon, my First Lieutenant, Ed- 
monston, conducted my company, with the detail from 
Company F, to Fort Sedgwick, which was called 'Tort 
Hell" by the soldiers, a large earthwork in front of, and 
connected with, the breastworks of the Fifth Corps, and 
located on the Jerusalem Plank Road running into Peters- 
burg, where I joined the command soon afterwards. About 
nine o'clock at night the six heavy ''ordnance guns," as 
they were called, all apparently new and resting in their 
traveling beds, with even their trunnion sights removed, 
drawn by mules and accompanied by ammunition wagons. 



102 

•« 

all in charge of a drunken wagon-master, arrived at the 
foot of the ''covered way" which zig-zagged up to our fort 
from a hollow in the rear. My men were perfectly familiar 
with these guns, even to the minutest details, and taking 
charge of them at once, by dint of hard work we had each' 
piece in position, shifted from its traveling to its trunnion 
bed, its sights adjusted, a charge rammed home, its gun- 
ners at their posts, and the lanyard ready to hook to its 
friction primer, and the whole battery in every respect 
ready for business, just as the mine was exploded at about 
half-past four o'clock in the morning of the 30th. Five 
of the guns bore directly on the rebel work which was to 
be blown up, and the works between it and my fort, while 
No. 6 stood in an angle and bore on the rebel fort Mahone, 
or "Fort Damnation," as it was called. 

SATURDAY, JULY 3OTH. 

During last night the Second Corps, which had returned 
from the extreme right of our lines where it had been sent 
to make a demonstration as a feint, as we were told, came 
in on our right and rear and lay in a railroad cut with its 
right resting near the right of the Fifth Corps, and its 
left extending nearly parallel but slightly diagonally to 
the rear of that corps. Early in the morning a Regular 
Army Sergeant named Charles Miller, with two brass 
twelve-pounders from some Regular battery, reported to 
me and I placed his section between my Nos. 5 and 6, 
where there were two platforms and embrasures for lighter 
guns. As soon as I saw the vast inverted cone of earth, 
fire and smoke caused by the gigantic explosion, I gave 
the order ''commence firing, No. i fire!" and before the 
noise of the explosion, or even the trembling of the earth, 



I03 

had reached us, No. i had sent a thirty-three pound 
shell into a two-gun battery facing us, smashing 
through the parapet and opening the way for a 
shell from No. 2, which, aimed by Corporal O'Con- 
nor as a columbiad for want of a tunnion sight, 
sent its shell under the muzzle of an old-fashioned barbette 
gun doing duty as a field-piece, and dismounted it before 
it could fire a shot in our direction. Nos. 3, 4, 5 and 6 fol- 
lowed in rapid succession, and the order **fire at will" 
brought on an almost continuous roar. There was a rebel 
camp in plain sight over near ''Fort Damnation," and when 
the first shell from my No. 6 dropped among the tents 
and exploded, it was amusing to see the "Jo^^nnies" turning 
out in consternation and very few clothes, and skedaddling 
to cover. Although the platforms in our fort were large 
and well built, the recoil of these guns was so great that 
at every discharge, with muzzles depressed and trails in the 
air, they would run backward and down the inclines lead- 
ing to the platforms, and to overcome this tendency to roll 
out of action, I was obliged to have two men on the trail 
handspike of each gun, and a man on each side to drop 
an armful of wood, stick by stick, under the wheels to take 
up as much as was possible of the recoil. 

After the firing of troops and artillery immediately in 
front of the Crater had perceptibly slackened, and it was 
evident that our charging columns were not being pushed 
through the enemy's works as had been planned, and while, 
having practically completed the work General Warren 
had given me to do, I was firing slowly and giving my 
guns an opportunity to cool ofif, for they were so hot that 
one could hardly bear his hand on them. General Bartlett, 
an officer with a wooden leg, who commanded some troops 



104 

on our right and from his position could see what was 
going on at the Crater, came into "Fort Hell" and told 
me that a force of the enemy was forming at a point in 
the rear of the Crater, with the intention, apparently, of 
charging our forces which were inextricably mixed up 
in that fearful excavation, and wanted to know if I could 
not break up the formation. I could not see the troops 
of which he spoke, they being concealed from me by a little 
knoll and some rebel earthworks, but taking his estimate 
of the distance at fifteen hundred yards, I cut the time- 
fuses of three or four shells for that range for my Nos. 
I and 2, and gave the guns the requisite, elevation, while 
the General stumped back to his command to note the re- 
sult of the experiment. In a few moments he sent a staff 
officer to say that I had the direction and distance very 
accurately, but that my shells were exploding in the air 
and a little short. Thereupon I cut the fuses of four or 
five other shells so as to give them an additional half second 
of time, and before I had exhausted the new supply, the 
General sent another staff officer to say that my last shells 
had dropped right into the bunch and had scattered it like 
a flock of sheep, and that I needn't waste any more ammu- 
nition on his account. 

Not very long after this incident. General Warren came 
into the fort, and seeing that with the one hundred and 
ninety-six rounds which my battery had fired that morning 
we had leveled many yards of the enemy's breastworks in 
our front, and had dismounted or silenced every gun in 
front of his corps except one which did not bear our way, 
the extremely heavy traverse of which defied all our efforts, 
inquired whether I had seen any large body of troops in 
those breastworks or their vicinity, and upon my telling 



105 

him that there seemed to be nothing but a heavy picket 
line in front of us, he called one of his staff officers and 
sent him to General Meade with the request, as I under- 
stood it, that he be permitted to attack with his corps, by 
swinging it, by brigade or division, to the right, and pass- 
ing through the breach in the enemy's works with a bri- 
gade or division front. After a while the officer returned 
and reported that General Meade declined to grant Gen- 
eral Warren's request. 

Some time afterwards General Hancock came into the 
Fort in company with General Warren, and after some 
conversation the two officers sent a united request, in sub- 
stance, that Warren be permitted to make the move which 
he had himself suggested earlier in the day, and that Han- 
cock's corps should swing into the lines vacated by War- 
ren's corps, so that if Warren was successful Hancock 
could follow him up, while if Warren was unsuccessful 
he could fall back on Hancock. This united request was 
also refused, and the staff officer reported that General 
Meade had said that those officers knew the plan of opera- 
tions for the day and that it would be adhered to, and, in 
substance, that when he desired those corps to move he 
would give the necessary orders. I do not pretend to have 
quoted the language accurately, but I know that the mes- 
sage from General Meade as reported was somewhat 
brusque and emphatic, and that General Hancock indulged 
in some terse and vigorous English. I cannot give the 
exact hour of the day when either of the requests above 
mentioned was sent to General Meade, for I had been up 
all night and took little note of time, but I know that 
the firing had practically ceased on both sides, and that it 
was not until some hours afterwards that the main body 



io6 

of the enemy's troops, which had been lured off to their left 
a day or two before by Hancock's corps, came filing back 
into such of their works in our front as still remained and 
afforded them shelter. I shall always feel that had the 
request of General Warren been granted this morning, 
when a wide door had been opened in his front and there 
was but a small force to dispute his passage through, Lee's 
right would have been pierced, Petersburg been taken and 
the war ended. 

The picket lines in front of '*Fort Hell" were very near 
together, — not more than fifteen or twenty yards apart, 
I should think. The men on these lines were usually re- 
Heved in the night time, and each occupied a little "gopher 
hole," from which, through an aperture between rocks and 
logs arranged for his protection, he would occasionally 
take a shot at some exposed adversary. During our can- 
nonade one of these chaps on the rebel line had given us 
some trouble by firing through the embrasures and splinter- 
ing the spokes of the wheels of our gun carriages, but he 
was a bad marksman and injured none of the men, though 
he chipped a piece out of the buckle of my sword belt and 
gave me a little pain in the center for a moment. I could 
not depress any of the guns enough to reach him, even if 
the game had been worth the candle, but determining to 
quiet him, I placed two infantry soldiers on either side of 
an embrasure, where they were hidden by the sand bags 
which formed the crest of the works, with instructions to 
locate the point where the fellow's musket came through, 
and then one of them to return his fire and the other to wait 
a few seconds until he might be expected to be peeping 
through for an observation, and then fire. Finding after a 
few failures that the man had evidently gotten on to the 



107 

scheme, I placed a third infantry man a short distance 
from one of the others, and this arrangement seemed to be 
quite outside of the picket's calculations, for after the third 
man had fired but once we heard nothing more from that 
''gopher hole." 

Along towards night confidence seemed to be in a meas- 
ure restored between the picket lines in our front, the men 
frequently hailing each other and carrying on more or less 
conversation, and the ''Johnnies" taunting our men with the 
inquiry, "Why didn't you 'Yanks' take these works to-day ? 
There wasn't a hundred men in them." Private Short- 
sleeves of my company, actually slipped out through an 
embrasure and went over to the picket line and exchanged 
a quantity of hardtack for several plugs of very black and 
repulsive-looking tobacco. 

SUNDAY, JULY 3 1 ST. 

At midnight I received an order from Col. Wainwright, 
Chief of Artillery of the Fifth Corps, directing me to get 
my battery out of "Fort Hell" as quickly as possible, and 
teams for the purpose arriving at about 3 o'clock A. M., 
we had the guns out and at the foot of the covered way 
by daylight, and I accompanied them to Siege Train Land- 
ing and turned them over to the proper officer, my two 
companies in the meantime reporting to the regimental 
camp without the loss of a man. Why the battery was 
ordered out so suddenly I do not know, unless it was be- 
cause of a rumor that the enemy was mining our fort, and 
the facts that in our magazine we could occasionally hear 
muffled sounds apparently coming from the earth beneath, 
and that quite a number of men were seen from time to 
time to enter and leave the cellar of an old house between 



io8 

the lines which had been burned, furnished some confirma- 
tion of the rumor, for we knew that work of that sort was 
going on at other points. 

MONDAY, AUGUST 1ST. 

There is much speculation in the army as to the reason 
why the explosion of the mine did not accomplish what 
had apparently been expected of it, and bitter criticisms 
are freely indulged in by many of the officers and men at 
the loss, as we hear it reported, of from three to four 
thousand men with no compensatory result. The wildest 
rumors are in circulation, one being that General Grant 
had no confidence in the scheme and at the time of the 
explosion was actually playing cards with General Rawl- 
ings at City Point. Another is that owing to the reported 
strained relations between Generals Meade and Burnside, 
the former did not wish the mine, which was on Burn- 
side's front, to prove a success, and that after the fiasco 
he pretended to be very much disappointed and actually put 
Burnside in arrest, Grant countermanding the arrest as 
soon as he heard of it. Yet another is that Burnside is to 
be dismissed and Meade removed. Still another is that 
some of the general officers charged with the execution of 
the plan showed the white feather, and failed to lead their 
men to the assault as they should have done. There is 
no place in the world where gossip prevails to the extent 
that it does in an army in the field, and in the countless 
and conflicting statements of fact which seem to have ac- 
quired currency, I very much doubt if the true history of 
the causes which led to the failure of the mine is ever 
written. But whatever the real facts may have been, it is 
my individual opinion that if there had been an officer in 



109 

supreme command, who kept himself in close touch with 
all parts of the line and knew the exact situation as it ex- 
isted at the more important points, and so had been able 
promptly to take advantage of any favorable opportunities 
suddenly and unexpectedly arising, any disaster occurring 
at one point could and would have been retrieved by an 
overwhelming success at another point. 

TUESDAY, AUGUST 2D. 

In camp all day except when temporarily detailed on 
fatigue duty. 

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3D. 

All being quiet along the lines, I procured a horse and 
visited City Point for the first time since my arrival before 
Petersburg. While there I met one of our Assistant Sur- 
geons, who had come down with an ambulance to get some 
ice and other needed medical supplies, and arranged to 
go back to camp in his company. The day was very warm, 
and when we were ready to start and while in the act 
of mounting my horse, I suddenly fainted, and the next 
thing of which I was conscious was the fact that I was 
lying on a blanket spread on the ice in the doctor's am- 
bulance, and I remained there most of the time until we 
reached our lines, my horse being led by the bridle behind 
us. The doctor seemed to regard my attack as not at all 
serious, and prescribed rest and a gentle tonic treatment, 
and I crawled into my bunk. 

THURSDAY, AUGUST 4TH. 

Found myself quite weak and exhausted this morning, 



no 

and experienced some difficulty in walking but managed 
to keep up and around the camp. Companies A and M re- 
turned from Siege Train Landing to-day and joined the 
regiment, and an order was received again assigning us 
to the Second Corps. Lieut. Col. Alcock, now in command 
of the regiment, reported to our new corps commander 
but nothing was done about breaking camp. It is rumored 
that the Second Corps is to be sent to Washington, though 
precisely why we are not informed. 

FRIDAY, AUGUST 5TH. 

We really expect now to go to Washington, and it is a 
subject of general rejoicing for almost any change will 
be welcome. The enemy is reported to have sprung three 
mines in front of the Ninth Corps to-day, but all the ex- 
plosions occurred some distance outside of our works and 
an attack made at the same time proved a failure. 

SATURDAY, AUGUST 6tH. 

Four hundred men from the regiment were ordered on 
fatigue on the line of the Second Corps, and were em- 
ployed to change a mortar battery into a gun battery. While 
wandering around through a camp near our own, I met 
Dr. Hoyt, whom I knew in Canandaigua, N. Y., when I 
was a law student in that village, and who is Surgeon of 
the 126th and now attached to one of the Division hospitals 
of the Second Corps. Noticing my generally dilapidated 
appearance and deliberate movements, he inquired what the 
matter was, and upon my telling him of my experience at 
City Point, and of one or two similar though less pro- 
found and protracted fainting spells, he said that I had 



Ill 

undoubtedly had a light or partial sunstroke, and advised 
me to be very careful about exposing myself to heat or 
exertion, and thought I had better at once come to his hos- 
pital where he would have me admitted and could himself 
treat me. This was the first time that I had received any 
intimation that I was a victim of sun-stroke, and no sus- 
picion of it had ever entered my mind for I had supposed 
that such a visitation meant instant death, having once 
seen a man fall forward out of the ranks and never move 
after he struck the ground and been informed that it was 
a case of sun-stroke, but from the symptoms which the doc- 
tor mentioned I was impressed with the possible accuracy 
of his diagnosis. However, I declined his kind offer to 
take me under his care and went back to camp. 

SUNDAY, AUGUST 7TH. 

Chaplain Carr held religious services in camp to-day 
and preached a sermon from the text, ''The way of 
the transgressor is hard," but I failed to get any new 
ideas on the general subject or to detect any particular 
appositeness in the proposition to our present situation. 
At 9 o'clock P. M. we were ordered to report to the First 
Division of the Second Corps which is commanded by 
General Barlow. This is the tenth disposition which has 
been made of us, and no wonder that we never know for 
any length of time where to apply for rations or other 
supplies. 

MONDAY, AUGUST 8tH. 

As there appeared to be no likelihood of an immediate 
movement of the Second Corps, unless it might be to 
Washington, I concluded temporarily to accept the hospi- 



112 

tality of Doctor Hoyt and went over to his hospital, and 
he at once put me to bed. 

FRIDAY, AUGUST I2TH. 

Have been in hospital four days and feel much better 
for the complete rest, the nourishing food and the medical 
treatment. My headache is considerably relieved, and I 
can move about quite well with the assistance of a cane. 
The doctor tells me that the Corps is to move to-day, but 
he professes ignorance as to its destination further than 
is indicated by the orders which he has received, which 
are to pack up his hospital and go to City Point. Of course 
I conclude that this is the expected movement to Wash- 
ington, and I tell him that I must go and join my com- 
pany. This he protests against, saying that I am in no 
condition to march to City Point, and that I can just as 
well ride in one of his ambulances to the Point and join 
my company there, so I go to camp and draw my pay, and 
returning to hospital, am toted off to City Point with the 
doctor and his cheerful outfit of sick and wounded. On 
arriving there not far from midnight, I find myself at the 
City Point General Hospital, where the doctor introduces 
me to one of the surgeons, and advising me to remain there 
for the rest of the night "and get a good sleep," takes his 
departure. 

SATURDAY, AUGUST I3TH. 

On awaking this morning I found that it was reported 
at the hospital that the Second Corps had gone up the 
James River towards Richmond, but I could get no definite 
information in regard to the movement. Taking my old 



113 

hand-bag, which contained all my personal effects except 
the clothes I had on, my overcoat and sword, I went to the 
office of the hospital and told the surgeon-in-charge that 
I was going to find my company, which had gone up the 
river with the Second Corps. He seemed a little surprised, 
an'3, turning to some record he had before him, informed 
me that on the application of Doctor Hoyt I had been 
received at the hospital as an officer invalided by sun- 
stroke, and that under the regulations I could not leave 
until discharged by the proper medical authorities, and, 
upon my attempting to remonstrate, he ventured to suggest 
that Dr. Hoyt had probably saved my life by the trick he 
had played on me in leaving me at the hospital the night 
before, and advised me to accept the situation as I found 
it and go back to my ward and ask for a thorough physi- 
cal examination. Rather reluctantly, but conscious that 
there might be some grounds for the advice, I followed 
it, and upon an examination by the medical staff was told 
that I was "unfit for duty," one of the surgeons remarking 
"he may be good for something in six months, but the 
chances are that he never will be worth much." 

WEST BLOOMFIELD, N. Y.^ DECEMBER 5TH. 

My official commitment to hospital at City Point in 
August, terminated my active military service. On the 
25th of that month I was sent, with a party of sick and 
wounded officers, to Fortress Monroe, and thence by the 
steamship "Baltic," to the officers' hospital on Bedloe's 
Island, in New York harbor, where I remained a victim 
of "cupping" and other surgical and medical treatment 
until September i8th. On that date, my application for a 
furlough having been granted, my father came for me 



114 

and took me home, and it becoming apparent after three 
months' experience that the opinion of the surgeon at City 
Point was Hkely to be verified, I was to-day mustered out 
of the mihtary service of the United States by Special Or- 
der No. 431, issued by the War Department upon a Sur- 
geon's Certificate of DisabiHty contracted in such service. 

ADDENDA. 

Had I turned on at various points the Hght furnished 
by subsequent events, no doubt much of the foregoing 
Diary could have been made more intelligible, accurate 
and interesting, but I have preferred to confine myself 
closely to the recital of situations and experiences as they 
appeared to, and were noted at the time by, a boy just out 
of college, rather than to give the real facts as they were 
explained, or proved to be, in his maturer years when all 
the evidence bearing upon them had become matters of 
history. 

As an illustration of the terrible cost in human life of 
the campaign of 1864 of the Army of the Potomac, I may 
mention that of the one hundred and eighty-two men in 
line when Company H of the Fourth N. Y. Heavy Artil- 
lery marched out of Fort Marcy on March 27th to join 
the Army of the Potomac, there were but twenty-five left 
for duty on August 25th, after the battle of Reams Station, 
which was the last important engagement participated in 
by the company during that year. Of these twenty-five, 
but twelve had been continuously with the company during 
the whole campaign, and of those who were not of the 
twenty-five, sixty, or nearly one-third of the original com- 
pany, were under the sod, one had deserted and the re- 
maining ninety-seven were either prisoners or in hospital. 



115 

While engaged in the preparation of this personal nar- 
rative, many scenes and incidents have been recalled of 
which I made no note at the time and so cannot now give 
date or locality. Most of them were doubtless trivial in 
themselves, but they went to make up the daily and 
nightly experiences of the life of a soldier, and some of 
them at least may properly be mentioned in the story of a 
life which no one can fully understand and appreciate who 
has not actually lived it. For instance, on one occasion 
I received a shot through my hat from front to rear, and 
had I been an inch taller it would have parted my hair 
very wide in the middle. On another occasion I slept all 
night very comfortably on the leeward side of a dead negro 
soldier. Once Lieut. Edmonston found a minie ball in his 
coat pocket with a lot of hardtack which he was carrying 
in that pocket, and though it had passed through two thick- 
nesses of cloth and broken up the hardtack considerably, 
he had no idea when it entered. Having often heard of 
''hoe-cakes," and been informed that a certain old negress 
was an artist in their manufacture, I went to her cabin one 
day and found five or six officers standing around an enor- 
mous fire-place in which was quite a bed of coals, waiting 
their turns to be supplied. Taking my place in the line, 
I watched the kind-hearted old creature mould the corn- 
pones and bake them on the iron heads of regular planta- 
tion hoes, two of which she kept on the coals all the time, 
and listened to her chatter with a mother's pride and in 
the dialect of a full blood Southern darky, of a son and a 
daughter who had gone north when McClellan's army was 
there two years before, and express her astonishment that 
none of us knew her "chillun." When I finally got my 
''hoe-cake" I confess that I was a little disappointed in 



ii6 

the character of the delicacy, though it was an agreeable 
change from our regular diet of hardtack and brown sugar. 
As giving some idea of the extent of our fatigue at times, 
I may mention that on some of our night marches men 
went to sleep while walking, and when there was a sudden 
halt they would tumble over each other, muskets and all, 
like so many sticks of wood; that we often in the night 
time laid down in from four to six inches of dust, and 
awoke in the same depth of mud and water, and that one 
night I slept so soundly alongside of a brass twelve- 
pounder that I was not awakened by its discharge. When 
we reached localities which had been fought over in pre- 
vious campaigns, we found many earthworks still stand- 
ing, and in turning and utilizing them for our own pur- 
poses, or in building new breastworks, it was no uncom- 
mon thing to dig up the skulls and other parts of the skel- 
etons of the men who had perished in those campaigns, 
and in one instance, I remember that in changing and re- 
modeling a fortification which we had built ourselves, we 
three times disinterred and re-buried one of our own men 
who had been killed and buried within a week. Major 
Arthur was quite deaf, and did not often hear the "zip" 
of the bullets as they sped through the air and caused the 
most nervy involuntarily to dodge, though the missile had 
in fact passed before the sound was heard. Noticing this 
involuntary movement in some of the officers who were 
under the fire of sharpshooters one day, the Major in- 
quired what they were dodging for, and upon being in- 
formed remarked, ''Well, / don't hear anything." Just 
then he happened to place his hand upon a tree beside him, 
forgetful that a deaf man can often hear better through 
his fingers than his ears, and a ball striking the tree near 



117 

his hand at that instant he too dodged, and hastily fin- 
ished his sentence with, "but by G — , I heard that." 

In the autumn of 1905, I met at the hotel at the Hot 
Springs of Virginia, three gentlemen who were in the Con- 
federate Army during the last campaign, and who hap- 
pened to be in positions opposite to those which I occupied 
with my company at different times, and it is hardly neces- 
sary to say that we frequently indulged in most interesting 
reminiscences of the war. One was Lieutenant R. A. 
Hemphill, now editor of the Atlanta Constitution, who was 
in the artillery which peppered us so persistently at Toto- 
potomoy Creek ; one was Capt. J. P. WilHams, now of Sa- 
vannah, Ga., who was in the breastworks which we charged 
on the 1 8th of June, and saw us disappear in the corn, and 
was also on the lines in front of "Fort Hell" which we 
cannonaded on July 30th, and one was Col. D. G. Mcin- 
tosh, now of Baltimore, Md., who was wounded near the 
Crater on July 30th, by one of those iron balls with which 
such shells as my battery used were filled, and, as I told 
him, I would not be at all surprised if he received his 
wound when I was shelling the charging column at the 
request of General Bartlett as hereinbefore described. 
Each of these gentlemen remembered perfectly the scenes 
and incidents of the particular days to which allusion has 
been made, and I am free to say that if all the surviving 
"Johnny Rebs" are as interesting and entertaining as these 
proved to be, I would "go farther and fare worse" than I 
did forty-two years ago to make their acquaintance. 

New York, May 4th, 1906. 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
""'ill 

II 





013 763 689 A 




